Shared Destiny
by DaBillmann
Summary: Into every generation, there is a Chosen One. ONE girl in all the world. She is the Slayer. When one Slayer dies another is called. That is how it has always been. However, what happens when the new Slayer is one of fraternal triplets, all three of whom are Potentials? Buffy, Faith, and Kimberly Summers find out as they face their Shared Destiny.
1. Prologue

A/N: Bill's Fickle Muse Syndrome strikes again! Another idea spinning around in my head and if I don't start writing it, it will get lost in there. The basic idea has been in my head for awhile now, and the recent discovery of the story Runaway Slayer by Aerc Stellaris got my brain going to flesh it out a little. Plus, I borrowed the title from chapter Four of that story, so full credit for story title goes to, I'm guessing her from the profile picture. Thanks Aerc!

A/N2: This story is classified as BTVS/Power Rangers crossover. The events willbe all Buffy, sorry, no giant robots or spandex costumes, but, Kimberly Hart from MM Power Rangers is going to be one of the main characters, and some of the other Rangers, and possibly other characters, will also appear.

A/N3: I'm including Dawn in this story. She has always been there and is Buffy,Faith and Kimberly's real sister. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the whole Key storyline if and when I get to Season Five. We'll just have to see when I get there.

 **Rated M for language, violence, and sexual situations with possible femslash and spanking. Nothing too explicit.**

 **Disclaimer: I don' t own Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers or any of their content, but, it'd sure be cool if I did. Original characters are all mine, so there!. I make no money off of this.**

 **Shared Destiny**

 **By DaBillmann**

 **Prologue:**

 **Los Angeles 1996.**

In a cemetary, in Los Angeles California, a newly called vampire Slayer, faced her first vampire.

Her Watcher was so far, unipressed. The vampire had just knocked the Slayer, Buffy, flat on her back and jumped on top of her. Buffy had lost her grip on her stake, and she reached for it, but, it was just outside of her grasp.

Merrick, the Watcher, sighed. He knew he couldn't expect much. Somehow, this girl had slipped through the cracks, and nobody had been assigned to train her for the day she might one day be called as the Slayer. So, Merrick had more work to do than most Watchers did with a newly called Slayer.

"Remember," Merrick called to her. "You're stronger and faster now. Use that strength."

Instincitvely, Buffy reached her hands underneath the vampire and managed to push him off of her. He went flying over and landed on his watched as Buffy got onto her hands and knees and crawled to where her stake was. muttering "ohgodohgodsohgodohgod" the whole time. She scooped up the stake and rushed back over to the vampire and plunged the stake down...

...into his gut. Merrick rolled his eyes.

"Oh! Not the heart!" squeaked Buffy as she pulled the stake back and tried again. This time, she hit her mark and the vampire exploded into dust.

Merrick came over. He was moderately proud. Sure, for a Slayer who'd recieved the proper training, that was sloppy, but, for her first encounter, well, to quote the kids today, it didn't suck. "You see?" he asked her. "You see your power?" Buffy didn't answer. She just stared at the spot where the vampire had been. Merrick started to give her what he hoped would be a pep talk, but suddenly he was knocked to the ground. He looked up to see three more vampires. Two of them grabbed Buffy and hauled her to her feet. The third kicked him in the chest, knocking the wind out of him, and stood on his chest.

"Look what we have here," said the one with his foot on Merricks chest. "A creepy old guy with a teenage girl." The other two vampire's dragged a struggling Buffy over. "I don't know how you did it, girl, but you just killed Mitch. I have a problem with that. See, I'm building a gang, and you just took out my newest member." He backhanded Buffy, splitting her lip, and making her whimper. Merrick figured these vampires were young, a Slayer should have no problem with the three of them. But, again, Buffy's lack of training and confidence was about to get them both killed.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF OUR SISTER!" came a female voice from soem nearby trees. Merrick and the vampires looked to see two more teenage girls come running in, both brunettes, both looking to be abotu the same age as Buffy. The taller of the two ran up and punched the lead vampire, amazingly, sending him back onto his backside, freeing Merrick.

"Faith?" asked Buffy, questioningly.

The shorter girl grabbed the arm of one of the two holding Buffy and twisted it, making him let go of her. Then she punched him in the face, again, miraculously knocking him down.

"Kimberly?" asked Buffy. She quickly regained her senses and elbowed the third vampire in the gut, breaking his grip, and flipped him to the ground. Merrick watched in amazement as the three girls stood side by side and the three vampires got to their feet.

Faith, clearly the most aggressive of the three, jhumped at the same vampire she'd knocked off of Merrick. She threw a series of punches at him that clearly showed she had soe mability to fight, though, it was a very brawling style. The vampire blocked a few of the punches, but, the ones that landed, well, if Merrick was any judge, landed harder than Buffy's.

Buffy and Kimberly attacked their vampires as one, both throwing punches and kicks. Again, neither had much style, but both were effective. Kennedy appeard to be faster than Buffy, but, her punches weren't doing as much damage.

Faith grabbed her vampire by the lapels of his jacket and punched him solidly in the face, dazing him. "Never," she yelled punching him again. "ever," another punch. "EVER," another punch. "Mess with one of my sisters!" The vampire went to his knees, prone. Merrick took out the stake he was carrying in case he needed it and tossed it to Faith.

"In the heart!" he yelled. Faith looked at him, but, all three vampires were in their vamp faces, so, she did what he said, managing to hit the heart the first time.

"FUCK!" said Faith as the vampire turned to dust.

Meanwhile, Buffy, who looked more confident to Merrick this time, was making short work of her own vampire. She too ka few blows, but, in the end, she executed a truly stunning flip, making the vampire land on his back , then plunged the stake into his heart.

Kimberly was having a little more trouble. She was taking fewer blows than Buffy and Faith had, but, her own punches were doing less damage to the vampire. Finally, she managed to land a one two punch combination, follow it up with a kick to his stomach, then grabbed him and flung him, head first, through a gravestone, shattering the stone and knockign the vampire out. Faith tossed Kimberly her stake and repeted Marricks instructions. Kimberly easily dusted the unconcious vampire then turned to the other two girls.

All three girls enveloped each other in a group hug. "God!" said Buffy. "What are you two doing here?"

"Kim got one of her feelings," said Faith, indicating the shorter brunette. "We knew something was up, so we followed you."

"We lost you for a bit," added Kimberly."Faith finally heard the scuffling and we ran over in time to see that guy hit you." She looked around, then looked at Merrick who was rising. "Now, what..."

"...the FUCK..."continued Faith.

"...is going on?" they both finished.

Merrick came over, still a little dazed and clearly confused. "Buffy," he said. "Who are these two?"

Buffy sighed. "Merrick, these are my sisters, Faith and Kimberly," she said. "We're fraternal triplets. Guys, this is Merrick. I know this is going to be hard for you to believe, but, I'm a vampire Slayer and Merrick is my Watcher."

Faith, Kimberly and Merrick all three looked stunned.

"Triplets?" asked Merrick. As far as he knew, no Slayer had ever had a twin, much less been one of triplets. His eyes went wide as he looked at Faith and Kimberly and replayed the events in his head. "Oh my God!

"You two are Slayers too!"

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A/N4: I'm including Dawn in this story. She has always been there and is Buffy,Faith and Kimberly's real sister. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the whole Key storyline if and when I get to Season Five. We'll just have to see when I get there.

A/N5: Hope you all enjoyed the prologue. Let me know what you think please. I love reviews. Might have been a little predictable given the title, but, what are you gona do? I know the Story Image only shows Buffy and Faith, but I have no program or any idea how to photoshop a picture of the two of them with Kimberly


	2. Chapter 1 Welcome To The Hellmouth Part

A/N: A special acknowledgement to writer Nancy Holder for her Buffy novel The Book Of Fours. This is one of my favorite of the Buffy novels II've read so, I'm siting her OC of India Cohen as Buffy's predecessor in this story. Until Joss actually names a different predecessor, in my twisted brain, India will always be canon.

 **Chapter One. Welcome To The Hellmouth Pt 1.**

 **Sunnydale California 1997.**

"A-are you sure about this, Josh?" the beautiful blond girl asked. Josh Randall looked over at her. Oh yes, she was HOT! With her blond hair, innocent expression, and the Catholic schoolgirl uniform that was hugging her petite but shapely frame. She looked a little older than most girls who went to St Christopher's, a nearby Catholic private school, but Josh didn't care. She was hot ,and she definitely seemed interested.

"Don't worry," said Josh, putting a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "Nobody is ever in the school this time of night. But hey, if you're nervous, we don't HAVE to do this." Josh didn't want to scare the girl off. Not too many girls showed much of an interest in him. He was very average. Brown hair, brown eyes, thin, not terribly athletic or artistic. He got good grades but wasn't even really a brain. He'd been amazed when this beautiful girl had given him the eye. Then, when he'd finally gotten up the nerve to talk to her, she had asked if they could go somewhere private. He decided to try to impress her by breaking into Sunnydale High School, and they now stood in one of the classrooms.

"It's ok," said the girl, giving him a small smile. "I'm not scared if you're with me."Josh thought he saw something almost...predatory in her blue eyes, but figured that had to be a trick of the poor lightning. "You're sure, though, that nobody else is here?"

"I'm sure,"said Josh.

"Good," said the girl. Suddenly, her face changed. Her eyes turned yellow, her teeth grew to fangs, and her face took on a bumpy ridgey look. Josh screamed as the last thing he felt was sharp teeth sinking into his neck.

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She tossed and turned in her sleep, racked with nightmares. Mostly a disjointed collection of images. A homless man wandering down an alley, then being attacked by something.

A disembodied voice saying " I'll take you... like a cancer. I'll get inside you and eat my way out."

A horrible white demonic face.

"I'll destroy you. I'll destroy your sisters."

("Buffy!")

A pool of blood.

("Buffy!")

And roars coming out of the shadows.

"BUFFY!"

Buffy's eyes snapped open and she sat straight up in her bed, feeling a little disoriented as she tried to shake off the effects of the dream. For a moment, she really didn't remember where she was, then she looked over at the double bed on the other side of the room and saw her sisters, Faith and Kimberly, looking at her worriedly. She also saw all the half unpacked boxes piled around.

 _Oh, right. Sunnydale._

After the trouble in LA, leading to she and Faith getting kicked out of school, then their parents divorce, Buffy, Faith, Kim's mother, Joyce, had packed them and their little sister, Dawn, up and moved here to Sunnydale. She'd bought a nice house, with three bedrooms and two bath's, one connected to the master bedroom. Rather than make one of the triplets bunk with their ten year old sister, Joyce had decided to put the three girls in the master bedroom, since it was the biggest. With all the stuff three teenage girls need, there had not been room for three beds, so, Joyce had bought a double bed and the girls took turns sharing the double and one sleeping in the twin.

"Bad dreams?" asked Kim. Faith looked worried.

Buffy nodded. "Part of the whole Slayer package," she sighed.

Last year, Buffy had been approached by a strange man called Merrick, who claimed Buffy had been called as The Vampire Slayer. It turned out he was right, and Buffy was stronger and faster than normal people, as well as healing quickly, and having these strange dreams Kim had taken to calling her "Slayer Dreams". However, something strange had happened. The night Buffy had encountered her first vampires, Faith and Kim had shown up at the cemetery, and clearly also had Slayer powers.

Merrick had been puzzled at first, but finally worked it out. Because they were fraternal triplets, Buffy, Faith, and Kim had all been born with the potential to one day be called as the Slayer. Somehow, when the previous Slayer, India Cohen, had died, somehow, all three had been activated. Merrick had quickly judged that, since Buffy as the one he'd been led to, was the actual Chosen one, and the other two's close DNA relationship had led to a sort of "shared calling" between them.

This was confirmed when some testing had revealed that neither Faith nor Kimberly had full Slayer power. It was almost like their shared calling had not been quite able to manage three full Slayers. Faith and Kim's power seemed to be based on each of their individual gifts. Faith, always the toughest of the three, now had strength and endurance to match Buffy's, but had recieved less of a boost to her speed and agility , while Kim, who had been on the Freshman gymnastics team at Hemry, was as fast and agile as Buffy, but, not as strong. Plus, it seemed Slayers got some sort of boost to their fighting abilities. Faith was better at hand to hand, while Kim was better with weapons, and Buffy had received a boost to both.

There was a knock at their door. "Hey, you guys up?" came Dawn's voice.

"We're up, Dawnie," called Faith, smiling. She could be a pest, but they all loved their little sister. Faith was particularly close to her. She went over and opened the door.

"Mom says to hurry it up," said Dawn, all smiles and already dressed for school. "She says you don't want to be late for your first day at your new school. Are you guys excited? I am!" Their little sister loved school.

Faith rolled her eyes. "Well, we'll get ready a lot faster if a certain little chatterbox will stop distracting us and go downstairs and tell Mom we'll be down in a minute." She turned Dawn around and gave her bottom a smack to get her moving.

Dawn's hands went back to her bottom, rubbing it dramatically. She glared at Faith. "That HURT!" she complained, running out of the room. "Moooooooom!"

Faith rolled her eyes again. Even with her Slayer strength, the swat couldn't have hurt THAT much.

"Yeah, certainly don't want to be late," mumbled Buffy, looking at the floor. She was the most nervous of the three of them about their new school.

Kim, who had gotten up to brush her long brunette hair, walked over and sat down next to Buffy, putting her arm around her. "Oh, come on, Buff," she said. "It'l lbe just fine. You know what Mom says "a new school and a new start.""

"Yeah, B," said Faith, sitting down on Buffy's other side and also putting an arm around her. "We're putting all that shit from Hemry behind us, and leaving the Slayer stuff behind too. We offed that Lotho's creep, so, it should be smooth sailing from now on."

Buffy nodded. "You're right," she said with false cheerfulness. She hugged both of her sisters. They all got up and started to get ready.

"FAITH MARIE SUMMERS!" came their mother's voice from downstairs. "What have I told you about hitting your sister?"

"Don't get caught?" she said with a lopsided grin to Buffy and Kimberly, who both laughed. She was the first of them to get dressed, being less fashion conscious than the other two. In truth, Faith was a bit of a tomboy. She left the room and called out," It wasn't really a HIT, Mom. More of a love pat."

Buffy and Kim exchanged a grin at their sisters antics and finished getting ready.

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"So, what I'm saying is," Joyce was saying to Faith in the jeep as they pulled up to Sunnydale High school. " the next time I hear your little sister complain about one of your so called "love pats" you'll be getting several dozen of your own. Are we clear, young lady?"

Faith blushed a little in the passenger seat next to Joyce. As the oldest of the triplets and the "biggest" of all four girls, she usually rode shotgun. "Fine" she said, looking at the floor. All four of them had been spanked by Joyce at one time or another, but it was still EMBARRASSING to be threatened with it in front of her sisters. "Sorry, Squirt."

Dawn looked sad and leaned forward, and kissed Faith on the cheek. "Sorry I got you in trouble," she whispered, making Faith smile.

Joyce's voice softened as Faith, Buffy and Kim all got out of the car. "Now you three have a good day. I know you'll all make friends right away."

Kim smiled and leaned into Joyce's window, kissing her on the cheek. She was the only one of the three who never got uncomfortable with PDA's with their parents. "Thanks Mom," she said. "Love you."

"Love you guys," said Joyce, smiling. "Oh, and Buffy, Faith...TRY not to get kicked out."

Faith and Buffy exchanged an eyeroll. "We'll try," the promised as Joyce pulled away to take Dawn to the elementary school.

Kim sighed as they took in their new surroundings. "It'd be nice if she wouldn't keep reminding you guys of all that," she said sympathetically.

In their final confrontation with Lotho's, Kim had gotten separated from her sisters. Buffy and Faith had fought Lotho's himself in the gym, while Kim fought his Lieutenant, Amylin in the cafeteria. As a result of the fight with Lotho's and his minions, the gym had burned to the ground, and the blame had gone on Buffy and Faith.

"A lot of things would be nice," said Faith, thinking of Oliver Pike, whom she had just started dating when all this went down. Faith and Pike had been friends before all this went down, both hanging with the same crowd, then they'd sort of fallen for each other when Pike found out about vampires, etc.

Buffy squeezed Faith's shoulder in sympathy. Faith immediately looked at her sisters. She was only two minutes older than Buffy who was five minutes older than Kim, but, Faith always regarded herself as the big sister, looking out for them. She knew, despite Kim's cheerfulness, they were both nervous about starting in at a new school, so she put on her happy face. "C' mon you two,"she said. "Let's go meet with the principal then we can take over this school!" All three laughed, and linked arms and started inside the school, when they noticed a dark haired boy their own age heading towards them, on a skateboard, looking like he had little, if any, control over the thing.

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Xander Harris was starting to think maybe riding his skateboard to school had been a bad idea. He did fine on the thing so long as nobody else was around, but, the moment he had to, well, steer the thing he started having problems.

"Excuse me," he shouted to the crowd, making people move aside. "Coming through...coming through... look out please...not sure how to stop...don't wanna hurt anybody." He noticed three new girls as he careened by them. All three were gorgeous. The tallest one, in the middle, had really dark brown hair, and was wearing a red tee shirt and jeans. One of the other two was blonde and wearing a lavender mini dress. The third, the one who really caught Xander's yes, had straight hair a lighter brown than the taller girls, and was wearing a blouse and skirt, both in shades of pink. Xander craned his head to keep looking at them, ok, mostly the shorter brunette, and lost any pretense of control over the skateboard. He ran right into a stair rail, doing a rather impressive flip over the rail and landing on his back. he lay there for a moment, then got to his feet. He noticed all three new girls looking at him with amusement.

"You SUCK Harris!," yelled Larry Blaisedell from nearby.

"Thanks for reminding me, Larry," he called as the three girls walked inside. "I might have forgotten."

"Are you ok?" he heard a familiar voice ask from next to him. He turned to see his best friend, Willow Rosenberg standing there. Willow was a cute but awkward girl with long red hair and a bit of a whipped puppy look about her. She was really smart, with a somewhat overbearing mother who, unfortunately for Willow, still picked out her clothes.

"Willow!" he exclaimed happily. "You're SO the person I wanted to see!"

"Really?" asked Willow, for some reason beaming at him.

"Yeah," said Xander. "Remember our homework? Well, I kinda had a problem with the math."

Willow's smile got a bit less bright as she asked him," Which part?"

Xander looked embarrassed. "The math," he answered. He looked at her plaintively. "Can you help me tonight? Please? Be my study buddy?"

Willow shook her head at him. "What's in it for me?" she asked him, clearly amused.

"A shiny nickel!" Xander singsonged, making it sound like equivalent to the city of El Dorado or King Solomon's Mines.

Willow laughed. "Ok. I'll help you."she said. "Do you have "Theories In Trig"? You should check it out."

Xander looked lost. "Check it out?" he asked.

Willow rolled her eyes. "From the library," she told him. "Where the books live."

"Right," said Xander. "I'm there! See? I WANT to change."

Willow just shook her head as they entered the building and their friend Jesse came up to them. Jesse was an awkward kid, more so than Xander was. "Hey," he said by way of greeting.

"Jesse!" said Xander. "What's what?"

Jesse shrugged. "Three new girls" he answered.

"That's right!" said Xander. "I saw them. Total hotties."

"I heard somebody new was transferring here," added Willow, who usually knew these things.

"So," said Xander to Jesse. "Tell."

"Tell what?" asked Jesse, confused.

"The sitch," answered Xander. "What do you know about them?"

Jesse shrugged again. "Three new girls," he repeated, leaving it at that.

Xander shook his head exasperatedly. "Well, you're certainly a font of nothing!" he said as the three went to their classes.

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	3. Chapter 2 Welcome To The Hellmouth Pt 2

**Chapter Two Welcome To The Hellmouth Pt 2**

A short time later, the girls found themselves sitting across from Principal Flutie. Buffy could already see that the middle aged man was caught somewhere between the old school of strict discipline and the new school of sensitivity. She hoped sensitivity won out when it came to their past.

"Faith,Buffy, and Kimberly Summers," he said, looking at their transcript's then at the girls. "Late of Hemry High in Los Angeles. Fraternal; triplets, Faith is the oldest, Kimberly the youngest. You have an interesting career, ladies. Very colorful." He smiled and did the very last thing Buffy expected him to do.

He tore their transcripts each into four pieces.

"Welcome to Sunnydale, girls," he said warmly. "You get a clean slate here. What's past is past. We're not interested in what this piece of paper says. Even if it says..." Buffy was just starting to hold out some hope as he looked down and read the paper. "...WHOA!. Ahem, er. We nurture the whole student here. The INNER student." As he spoke, he took the four pieces of Buffy's transcript and lay them carefully on his desk, fitting them together. "Other schools might look at the incredible decline in grade point average..." he looked at Kim. "...HERE we look at the young WOMAN with the incredible decline in her grade point average." He reached for his tape dispenser as he looked again at the transcripts. "Other schools might look at the reports of gang fights..." he looked at Faith.

The girls exchanged a look. Without speaking, they sort of agreed that, as the only one not expelled from Hemry, Kim should do the talking.

"Uh, er, Mr. Flutie..." she began nervously.

Flutie raised a hand. "The students here are free to call Bob," he told her.

"Ok...Bob," said Kim.

"But they don't," Flutie informed her in a tone that said they were free to call him that in name only. "Ever." He started applying tape to the transcript's pieces.

Buffy sighed and decided to try. "Mr. Flutie," she said. "I know our transcripts are a little...colorful..."

"Hey," said Flutie. "we're not caring about that."He paused and got a thoughtful look. "Do you think "colorful" is the word? Not "dismal". Because, offhand, I'd go with dismal."

" Hey! It wasn't THAT bad!" Faith burst out. Buffy put a hand on her arm. Kim looked at her and shook her head. Faith's temper was legendary in the Summers house. protested.

Flutie pointed to their transcripts. "You burned down the school gym!" he said, indictaing Buffy and Faith.

Buffy squirmed. "We did," she admitted. " We really did. But you gotta see the whole picture. That gym was full of vam..."

"Asbestos!" Kim blurted out, then winced as both of her sisters rolled their eyes. Faith's look in particular said "NICE save!"

Flutie went back into Mr. Sensitive mode. "Girls," he said. "don't worry. Any other school they might say "watch your step" or "we'll be watching you" or even "get within 100 yards of the gym with a book of matches and you'll grow up in juvie hall" but that's just not the way here. Here, we want to service all of your needs and help you to respect our needs. And, if any of your needs and our needs don't mesh..." He smiled blandly and slipped the freshly taped transcript back into their file.

The three girls exchanged another look.

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"God, I can't even hate him!" Faith complained as they walked into the hallway outside the main office. 'I can't help feeling like he's honestly trying to be nice!"

"Tell me about it," said Kim. "Though, the look on his face when he pointed out the burning of the gym WAS kinda funny."

Buffy shook her head. "You're weird, Kim," she said playfully. She looked at her schedule. "Ok, I have history first period."

Faith looked at hers and groaned. "I got math," she said.

"Looks like we're going in three directions this hour," said Kim. "I have english." She looked at her sisters schedules. "Actually, looks like we don't have a class together until after lunch." Buffy nodded looking a little sad about that.

"Hey," said Faith, trying to bolster their confidence. "Look at it this way. if we split up, we can do more damage!" Kim laughed, knowing immediately what Faith was doing, and loving her for it. The warning bell rang. "Ok, I'll catch you guys at lunch."

"You bet," said Buffy, faking a smile. "Game faces!"

"Bye guys," said Kim as her two sisters walked off. She sighed a little then turned around...

and immediately collided with another student. The big jerk didn't even slow down as Kim's books spilled out of her bag.

"No, it's ok, I got it," she called after him, shaking her head as she knelt down to pick them up.

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Xander looked down the hall and saw the new girl, the shorter brunetted he'd noticed this morning, separate from her sisters and immediately collide with Larry. Naturally, the big mook didn't even stop and help her. Xander rushed in and knelt down next to her, grabbing a couple of her books and handing them to her. She looked at him and smiled her thanks.

"Can I have you?" he asked, then winced. "Dyeh, can I HELP you?"

"Oh, thanks,"said the girl looking a bit flustered. He started picking up items and handing them to her.

"I don't know you, do I?" he asked.

She gave him a smile. "I'm new," she answered. "I'm Kimberly. Kim."

"Xander," he answered. "Is me. Hi."

"Thanks,"said Kim, smiling again as they both stood. Xander decided he really liked her smile.

"Maybe I'll see you around," said Xander. "At school. Because...we both...go there." He mentally kicked himself.

"Great," said Kim as he handed her the last of her book. "Nice to meet you." She stuffed the books into her bag and left for her class.

Xander was totally disgusted with himself. "Can I have you?" he mocked himself. "We both go to school? Yeah, great. At best, I'm pathetic, at worst, I'm a creep!" He noticed something Kim had missed and bent to pick it up. "Oh, hey, you forgot..." he called out, then stopped as he looked at what he was holding. "your STAKE?" He stared at the stake for a moment, totally confused, as the next bell rang, signaling he was indeed late for class.

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Faith hated math. This was something she'd come to terms with. Math sucked. And yet, the schools hadn't accepted that because they kept MAKING HER TAKE IT! So, here she was, bored almost to tears, and with no textbook to reference. she looked to her left to see a tall, thin boy with dark hair smile at her, looking every bit as bored as she was. He was kinda cute, in a goofy looking sort of way. Faith immediately pegged him as one of those guys who tries way too hard to be cool when talking to the ladies, then, has no idea that he's trying too hard. She smiled back and looked to her right.

Sitting there was a boy with glasses and a cute but nerdy look to him. He smiled at her and handed her his book. "Here," he whispered. "I already know this stuff anyway." Faith smiled and mouthed "thank you" She noticed the boy on her other side roll his eyes, but in a friendly way.

Somehow, she made it through class, and turned to the bespectacled boy as they stood. "Thank you," she said to him.

"No problem," he said, smiling, looking rather awkward. "You should probably get a book of your own, though. They probably have a few in the library."

"Great," she answered. "Er, which way is that?"

"We'll show you," answered the other boy, sidling up to Faith. "Just consider us the welcome wagon. I'm Jesse McNalley, by the way. This is my friend, Billy Cranston."

"Pleased to make your acquaintance," said Bill.

"Er, yeah, nice to meet you guys too,' said Faith, a little taken aback at the formal language. "I'm Faith, by the way. Faith Summers."

"Don't mind him," said Jesse. "I think he swallowed a dictionary when he was three." Faith chuckled.

Billy shook his head. "That would be physically impossible, Jesse."

"That explains why the darn thing keeps getting stuck in my throat when I try it," Jesse quipped.

Billy shook his head again. "So, Faith," he said. "I heard we had three new girls arriving today. I understand you originally hail from Los Angeles? Hemry High I believe. How was their math program?"

Faith shook her head. "Similar to getting a tooth drilled with no novacaine," she quipped. "I'm not a big math fan."

"Well," said Billy, obviously trying to make a joke. "nobody's perfect."

Jesse just shook his head.

"So, what do people do for fun in this town?" asked Faith.

"Well," said Jesse. "There's the Bronze. Then there's watching paint dry. Then, there's always the Bronze."

"The Bronze is a nightclub that actually lets teenagers in," explained Billy. "They can't imbibe alchohol of course, but they can go in and hear the music and dance. My understanding is that Sunnydale really don't have much of a night life."

Faith chuckled at how different the two boys were. "Maybe I'll grab my sisters and we'll check it out tonight." she said.

"Here we are," said Jesse, indicating the library. He looekd at the time. "I better get to my next class. Hope to see you soon, Faith."

"Great meeting you guys,'said Faith as Billy waved and the two boys left. She opened the door and entered the library.

The library was huge, filled with dark wood and streaming sunlight. it was also empty. Not a single student. Faith actually thought it was sort of cool. For, you know, a library. She wandered further in and called out "Hello? Is anybody here?"

A hand reached out from behind her, touching her shoulder and startling her. She spun around to see a middle aged man with a certain quiet intensity. He was good looking in a "your Dad's cute for an old guy" kind of way.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Oh, er, I was looking for some books, Faith answered. "I'm new."

"You're one of the Summers girls?" he asked. Faith noticed he had a British accent.

"Faith. Good call," she said feeling a bit weird. "I guess we're the only new kids."

"I'm Mr. Giles," he said. "The librarian."

"Great," said Faith. "Do you have..."

"I know what you're after," interrupted Giles. He led her to the check out counter and pulled out a book sliding it over to her. It was a huge, leather bound tome with a single word set in gild across the cover.

 _Vampyr._

Faith recoiled and stepped away from the desk, eyeing Giles suspiciously. "That's NOT what I'm looking for," she said.

"Are you sure?" asked Giles looking confused.

"I'm way sure," said Faith, backing further away and exiting the library in a hurry. She turned and saw Buffy headed to the library with a really pretty brunette girl. She looked like the Queen Of The Popular Girls type to Faith. Faith, who freely admitted she liked girls as well as boys, probably would have found her hot under other circumstances.

"Faith, hi," said a surprised Buffy. "This is Cordelia. Cordelia, this is my sister Faith."

Cordelia gave Faith an appraising look. Clearly, she was not impressed with Faith's style of dress. Faith could not care less in the moment. "Nice to meet ya," said Faith distractedly. She turned to Buffy. "C'mon," she said. "Trust me, you do NOT want to go in there." She grabbed her sisters hand and dragged her away.

"Nice to meet you too," Cordelia called after, in a somewhat less than sincere voice.

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Kim walked into the girls locker room after gym class, feeling happy that lunch was next. Gym class always made her hungry. Her day was going well. She'd wound up sitting next to an asian girl named Trini Kwan in her first period english class, and it turned out, they had the same schedule the first half of the day. The two had hit it off and were already becoming friends.

"Your sisters sound like a lot of fun," Trini was saying as they walked to their gym lockers. Fortunately, there'd been an empty one right next to Trini's.

"They are," said Kim with a smile. "Faith can be a little rough around the edges, and Buffy was one of the popular girls back at Hemry, but, despite how different we all are, we've always been really close. Dawn can be a little bratty sometimes, but she's not a bad kid. She's just...ten."

Trini laughed. "I wish I had sisters," she said. "or even a brother."

"Look at it this way," said Kim as they started changing. "You never have to wait for the bathroom." Both laughed, as a conversation between two girls the next locker bank over drifted over to them. Trini rolled her eyes. They were clearly talking about Kim and her sisters.

"Kimberly seems ok,"said one girl. "But the other two seem kinda weird. And who names their kid "Buffy" anyway?"

"HER name is "Aphrodesia"," Trini whispered to Kim. "The other girls name is "Aura"." Kim smiled and shook her head.

"Well," said the girl Trini had identified as Aura. "I heard two of them got kicked out and that's why their Mom had to get a new job and move here." Kim winced at how quick the gossip vine was.

"Neg!" said Aphrodesia.

"Pos!" said Aura. " They were starting fights."

"Negly!" said Aphrodesia.

"Well, I heard it from Blue," said Aura. "And she SAW the transcripts..." Kim heard the sound of a locker opening, and then Aura was cut off by several girls screams, including Aura's. Kim went into Slayer mode by rote and ran around to the other side of the locker bank, followed closely by Trini.

Lying there on the floor in front of Aura's locker, was the dead body of a boy, his eyes open horribly wide. Kim knelt down and examined the body. She immediately noticed two little holes in his neck, and that the body had apparently been drained of blood.

"Great," she muttered under her breath.

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Buffy and Faith walked outside to the quad at lunchtime together. They had each filled each other in on their day so far. Buffy and the girl who had shown her to the library, Cordelia, had run into a shy girl named Willow at a drinking fountain, and Buffy had been apalled at how Cordelia had treated Willow. Fiaht had agreed and the two actively sought Willow out at lunch. The found her, sitting with one of the boys Faith had met earlier, Billy, by the fountain. They walked over and put on their freindliest smiles. "Hi," Buffy said brightly. "You're Willow, right?"

"Hey Billy," said Faith.

"Hi Faith," said Billy with an awkward smile.

Willow looked up at them nervously. "Why?" she asked. "I mean, hi. Did you want us to move?"

Buffy shook her head, feeling sad about the damage kids like Cordelia had done to this poor girl. "Why don't we start with "Hi, I'm Buffy, and this is my sister Faiuth,""she said sitting down next to her as Faith sat next to Billy. "And segue directly into us asking you both a favor. It doesn't involve moving, but it does involve you hanging out with us for awhile."

Willow, looked at her, confused. "But," she said. "Aren't you hanging with Cordelia?"

"I can't do both?" Buffy asked Willow.

Willow sighed and shook her head. "Not legally," she said, ruefully.

"Look," said Buffy. "We really want to get by here, new school and all. Cordelia's been really nice...to ME anyway, but we have have this burning desire to...not flunk all our classes."

"And, word has it, you two are just the ones to talk to if we want to get caught up," added Faith. She looked at Billy. "Though, I'd already figured that out with you." She herself had actually heard that, whlel friends, Billy and Willow were pretty much in a constant struggle to see who could get the better grades. So far, they were even. "By the way, Billy, this is my sister, Buffy."

"Pleased to make your accquaintance," said Bill. "And yes, I'db e happy to assist you any way I can short of doing the work for you."

Willow brightened considerably. "Oh," she said. "I We can DEFINITELY help you there. If you have sixth period free we could meet at the library."

"Or not," said Faith, a little too quickly. . "Or we could meet someplace quieter...noisier. That place jus kinda gives me a wiggins."

"It has that effect on most kids," acknowledged Billy.

"I love it though," said Willow brightly. "It's a great collection, and the new librarian is really cool."

"He's new?" asked Buffy, seeming disturbed. Faith had filled her in on her encounter with the British librarian.

"Yeah," said Willow. "He just started. I've spoken with him. He used to be a curator of some Brithis Museum. Or maybe it was THE British Museum. I'm not sure."

"But he knows EVERYTHING," Billy added."and he brought a number of historical volumes and biographies and..."

"Are we the two dullest people alive or what?" interrupted Willow.

"Not at all," said Buffy, smiling reassuringly.

"Your enthusiasm is refreshing," added Faith.

Two boys Buffy didn't know walked up, though Faith looked at the thinner one in recognition. "Hey," said the other boy. "You guys busy? Are we interrupting? We'll interrupt."

"Hey," said Buffy and Faith together.

"Hey,"said the boy Faith recognized.

"Buffy, Faith, this is Xander and Jesse," offered Willow.

"Oh, Faith and me go way back," said Jesse, grinning at Faith.

"That's right," said Faith, playing along. "Old friends, very close."

"Then, there was that period of estrangement," added Jesse. " where I think we were both growing as people, but here we are and it's like old times."

" I'm very touched." said Faith.

Buffy laughed, looking back and forth between them as Billy muttered "in the head." "Well, it's nice meeting you guys," she said. "I think," she added.

"Well, we just wanted to make you feel at home," said Jesse . Then he thought about it. "Unless you have a scary home."

"And to return something to your sister," said Xander, producing the stake that Kim had dropped earlier. "The only thing I can think is that she's building a really little fence."

Buffy exchanged a look with Faith and took the stake. "Oh no," she said. "This is for self defense. Everyone has them in LA. Pepper spray is just so passe." Faith gave her a "Seriously?" look at the lame excuse. Buffy just shrugged.

"So," Xander chimed in. "What do you like? What do you do for fun? What do you look for in a man? Let's hear it."

"Do you have any deep dark secrets we can publish?" added Jesse.

"Gee,"said Buffy, looking back and forth between them, and remembering Cordelia earlier telling her she wanted to hear "all about her". ":Everybody wants to know about us. How...keen."

"Well, not a lot happens in a one Starbucks town like Sunnydale," explained Xander. "So, you're big news."

"We're not," said Buffy, getting uncomfortable. "We're really not."

Billy seemed to catch that his two friends were really making Buffy and Faith uncomfortable. "Guys," he said. "perhaps it's not the best idea overwhelm these two on her first day in a new environment."

"Huh?" said Xander and Jesse together. They sometimes got confused by Billy-Speak.

"He means "Lay off"," translated Willow helpfully, making both Buffy and Faith chuckle.

Cordelia suddenly appeared behind Jesse, a look of disdain on her face. "Are these people bothering you?" she asked, indicating Billy, Jesse, Xander and Willow.

"Oh, NO!" said Buffy to her question. "NOT bugging us at ALL!"

"She wasn't hanging out with us!" squeaked Willow, trying to cover for them.

"Hey Cordelia," said Jesse, obviously smitten.

Cordelia didn't even look at him. "Oh, PLEASE," she said. She turned to Buffy. "I don't want to interrupt your downward mobility. I just thought I'd tell you, you won't be meeting Coach Foster, the woman with the chest hair, because gym has been cancelled today due to the extreme dead guy in Aura's locker."

"What?" said Buffy and Faith together.

"What are you talking about?" asked Willow.

"Some guy...Josh Randall, was stuffed in Aura's locker," said Cordelia.

"Dead." said Faith exchanging a look with Buffy.

"WAY dead," said Cordelia.

"So, not just a LITTLE dead?" quipped Xander.

Cordelia gave him a look that could make paint peel. "Don't you have an elsewhere to be?" she asked.

Jesse looked to Cordelia. "You know," he said. "if you need a shoulder to cry on...or nibble on..." She just put out her hand in a "talk to the hand" motion.

"How did he die?" asked Buffy, ignoring their stares.

"I...don't know?" said Cordelia, mystified at the question.

"Well, were there any marks?" asked Faith.

"God, you two!" said Cordelia. "Morbid much? I didn't ask? Ask your sister. She was one of the girls that found him."

"What?" said Buffy and Faith rising.

"Where is she?" asked Faith.

"Fluties office," supplied Cordelia.

"We gotta book, " said Buffy as they gathered their things. "Nice meeting you guys." Faith echoed the sentiment

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"Really, Mr. Flutie," said Kim in the outer office. "I don't need to go home."

"Are you sure?" asked Flutie. "I mean, that has to have been traumatic for you. Your friend Miss Kwan's parents just picked her up."

"Trini knew the guy," said Kim. She smiled softly as Buffy and Faith came running in. "Mr. Flutie, this is my first day. I'd HATE to have to go home early. Really, I'm fine."

"Oh, hello girls," said Flutie to Buffy and Faith, wincing at the concept that word was getting around. Both girls stepped up and hugged their sister.

"Kim is strong, Mr. Flutie," said Buffy. "And Faith and I promise to keep an eye on her and MAKE her call Mom if she needs to."

"Ok," said Flutie. "You girls know your sister." he turned to Kim. "If you need to talk to someone...we have councilors for that." With that he smiled at the girls and walked off.

Once they were alone, Buffy turned to Kim. "Was it...?"

Kim nodded. "Vampires," she whispered. "What do we do?"

"I know just who to talk to," said Faith. She quickly filled Kim in on her earlier meeting with the librarian as they headed to the library.

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A/N: Hope you all enjoyed. Please let me know what you think.


	4. Chapter 3 Welcome To The Hellmouth Pt 3

**Chapter Three Welcome To The Hellmouth Pt 3**

Faith, accompanied by Buffy and Kim, stormed into the library, all attitude. "Ok," she said. "What's the sitch?"

Giles turned from the books she was shelving. " Miss Summers?" he asked. "I beg your pardon?" He looked at the other two. "Your sisters?"

"I'm Buffy," said Buffy. "This is Kim."

"You heard about the dead guy, right?" asked Faith.

"Yes." answered Giles

"Well, it's the weirdest thing," Kim continued. "He's got these two little holes in his neck, and all his blood has been , isn't that bizarre? Aren't you just going "ooooooh"?"

Giles sighed and turned to them. "I was afraid of this," he said.

"Well, WE weren't" snapped Faith. "It's our first day! I was worried I would be behind in all my classes."

"That I wouldn't make any friends," continued Kim.

"That I'd have last months hair," added Buffy making both of her sisters roll their eyes. "We weren't expecting there to be vampires on campus." She took a breath. "And we don't care."

Giles looked at back and forth between them thoughtfully. Perhaps feeling a bit dizzy from having this conversation with all three of them. "Then why are you here?" he asked.

The girls nearly took a step back, totally thrown by the question. It was Faith who recovered first. "To...tell you we don't care," she finally answered.

"Which I don't," added Kim

"And have now told you," finished Buffy So...bye." They all turned, shaking their heads at the lamness of their exit.

"Will he rise?" Giles called out, stopping them in their tracks.

Kim sighed. "No, He's just dead," she said.

"Can you be sure?" asked Giles.

"She saw him," said Faith.

"To make you a vampire they have to suck your blood, then you have to suck their blood," said Buffy. "It's a whole big sucking thing. Mostly, they just kill you... WHY are we still talking to you?"

Giles pressed further. "You have no idea what's going on here, do you? Do you think it's just a coincidence?" He looked between the three of them. "All three of you being called? You coming here? That boy was just the beginning."

Buffy almost started crying. "WHY can't you just leave us alone?" she asked.

"Because you are the Slayer," answered Giles, then he corrected himself. "The SlayerS. Into every generation, a Slayer is born. One girl in all the world, a Chosen One. One born with...

They all three joined him for the next part "the strength and skill to stop the vampires..." Giles stopped so the girls finished alone. "To stop the spread of their evil...blah blah. blah".

"Look, we've HEARD it all, ok?" said Faith irritatedly.

"I don't understand this attitude," said Giles, truly perplexed. He'd never heard of a Slayer giving her Watcher this much trouble before. Granted, there had never been three Slayers before either. "You've accepted your destiny. You've slain vampires before."

"Yeah," said Kim. "And we have both been there and done that, and are now moving on!"

"What do you know about this town?" asked Giles.

"It's two hours on the freeway from Neiman Marcus?" guessed Buffy.

"The high school has a really annoying librarian?" added Faith.

"Dig a bit," said Giles going into full lecture mode. "into the history of this place. You'll find a string of odd occurances. I believe this area is a sort of center of mystic energy. Things gravitate here that you might not find elsewhere."

"Like vampires," finished Buffy for him. Suddenly, she had a large book in her arms. Then, Kim had one too, then Faith. Giles kept piling on more books as he spoke.

"Like werewolves," he said. "Zombies. Succubi. Incubi. Everything you ever dreaded was under your bed but told yourself couldn't be by the light of day."

Buffy looked at the stack of books in her arms. "What did you do?" she asked. "Send away for the Time Life series?"

"Er, well, yes,": answered Giles, straightening his glasses.

"Did you get the free phone?" asked Faith.

"The, uh, the calendar." he answered.

"Cool." said Kim. Then, Buffy suddenly remembered their own agenda.

"First, we're VAMPIRE Slayers. Second, we're RETIRED. Hey, I have an idea! Why don't YOU kill them?"

Giels sighed...again. "I'm a WATCHER," he explained. "I don't have the skills."

"Oh come on," said Kim dropping the books on the counter, the other two followed suit. "Stake through the heart, a little direct sunlight, it's like falling off a log."

Giles looked at them exasperatedly. "The Slayer slays," he told her. "The Watcher..."

"Watches?" interrupted Faith throwing Giles off.

"Yes," he said, then caught himself. "NO! He-he trains her...prepares her."

"Prepares us for WHAT?" shouted Buffy, rounding on him. "For getting kicked out of school? For losing all our friends? For having to fight for our lives every single night and never being able to tell anyone because it might endanger them?"

Faith threw her two cents in. " For telling our parents and them having us fucking COMITTED until we recant our story?"

" Go ahead, Giles," finished Kim. " Prepare us for that." They gave him defiant looks and stormed out of the library. Giles followed

"It's getting worse!" he called out to them. All three girls exchanged a look, but turned around and walked back to him so they could converse quietly. With how desperate he seemed, Faith could just see him yelling out stuff about vampires in a crowded school hallway.

"WHAT'S getting worse?" asked Buffy tiredly.

"The influx of the undead," answered Giles, earnestly, but quietly. "the supernatural occurances. It's been building for years now...There is a REASON you three are here and a REASON why it's now!"

"Yeah," Faith scoffed. "Because NOW is when our Mom MOVED here!"

"Something is coming," said Giles imploringly. "Something is going to happen here soon."

"Gee,' snarked Kim. "Can you vague that up for us?" Faith and Buffy almost laughed. Kim was probably the nicest of the three of them, but, even she had a pretty sharp tongue when she wanted to.

"As far as I can tell," said Giles, getting exasperated with the girls. "the signs point to a crucial mystical upheaval, very soon. Days. Possibly less."

The girls remained unconvinced and turned to leave. "Come on," said Buffy."This is Sunnydale. How bad an evil can there BE here?"

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Across town, in a subterranian cave, a large vampire knelt by a pool of blood. Other vampires milled around, some carrying torches.

"The sleeper will wake," intoned the large vampire, in an almost praying tone. "The sleeper will wake." He said the words over and over. "The sleeper will wake. The sleeper will wake, and the world will bleed." He looked upwards. "Amen."

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Buffy sighed as she ransacked her closet, tossing clothes everywhere. The girls had decided to go to the Bronze tonight, as Cordelia and Jesse had both suggested, and while both Faith and Kim were dressed and sitting on the double bed, watching her with amusement, Buffy was going through a living hell of trying to decide what to wear. Dawn was there too, sitting on Buffy's bed. Buffy grabbed two outfits, and held on up in front of herself as she looked into her full length mirror. It was rather...revealing. "Hi," she said disdainfully. "I'm an enormous slut!"

"It's not THAT bad!" protested Faith, who generally wore more revealing clothes than the other two.

Buffy tossed it aside and held the other one up. This one was somewhat frumpy. "Hi! Would you like to buy a copy of Watchtower?" She groaned and threw it onto the bed next to her other one.

"You used to be SO good at this." teased Kim, making Dawn giggle. Buffy grabbed another outfit and tossed it at Kim.

They heard their mother, Joyce, walk into the room. Buffy turned, the other girls stood.

"Hi Girl's," Joyce said. She looked at the clothes. "Did your closet explode or are you going out?"

Buffy chuckled. "We're going out, Mom," she affirmed.

"We're going to a club. With the new friends we told you about," added Kim.

Joyce looked thoughtful. "Will there be boys there?"

Faith rolled her eyes. "No, Mom," she snarked." It's a nun club."She eeped as Joyce smacked her on her butt.

"Don't get cute," Joyce warned, partially seriously and partially playfully. She turned to Kim. "Sweetie, are you sure you should be going out? After what happened today?"

Kim smiled at her. "I'll be fine, Mom," she assured her. "The school counciller said I should "get right back on the horse" and do normal stuff."

Joyce nodded. "Ok," she said. "I just worry. You all be careful." She looked to Faith and Buffy. "And you two keep an eye on your sister."

"We will Mom," Buffy and Faith promised together. They all shared an awkward silence for a moment. Things had been weird between them since the trouble in LA.

Joyce looked around. "I think we can make it work here," she said. "I've got my positive energy flowing. I'm gonna get the gallery on it's feet. We may have already found a space."

"That's great, Mom," said Buffy, sincerely but a little distractedly.

"And that school is a very nurturing environment," Joyce continued, "which is what you need."

"Moooom," protested Kim.

Joyce held up a hand. "Oh, not TOO nurturing, I know," she said. "You girls are sixteen. I've read all about the dangers of over parenting." She paused a moment, then said to them , honestly,"It's hard. New town and all. It's hard for me too. I'm trying to make it work. I'm GOING to make it work."

Faith smiled softly. "We know, Mom," she said.

Joyce ran her fingers through Buffy's hair. "You're all good girls," she said sincerely. Lovingly. "You just fell in with the wrong crowd. But, that's all behind us now."

Faith smiled again. "it is," she said decisively.

"From now on, " said Buffy. "We're only hanging out with the living..." she paused as she realized what she'd just said.

"Th- the LIVELY...people." Kim improvised, then she winced inwardly. That was SO lame!

"Ok," said Joyce. "You have fun tonight." She turned to Dawn. Pizza and a movie?"

"That sounds great, Mom," said Dawn.

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Buffy had FINALLY decided on something to wear, so the three had finally left, and Kim found herself lost in thought as she walked towards the club their new (hopeful) friends had told them about, The Bronze. They left the suburban area and wound up on the deserted streets on the edge of town. As they walked along, Kim's Slayer senses kicked in and she heard footsteps behind her.

"Guys," she said, but one look and she saw that Faith and Buffy had heard it too.

They stopped and turned. A ways back there was a figure, just standing there. Too far back for Kim to even be able to tell if it was a man or a woman. One thing she could tell, the figure was looking right at them.

"Come on," said Buffy, a trifle unnerved. They turned back around and resumed walking. Kim heard the figured start walking too. It was definitely following them , but at a discreet distance. They started moving faster and turned down an alley. Faith looked around then pointed above them. There was a pipe running across the narrow alley, some ten feet above them. Faith smiled, and pointed at the pipe, then at Buffy. Then she pointed down the alley and moved a finger back and forth between herself and Kim. Kim grinned as she got the message. Apparently, so did Buffy.

Using her Slayer agility, and strength, Buffy jumped up and grabbed the pipe, swinging up like an olympic gymnist, stopping in a sort of handstand on top of the pipe. Kim and Faith continued their walk down the alley. The figure followed them, then stopped and looked around, right underneath Buffy.

Buffy swung down, intending to wrap her legs around the figures neck and throw it to the ground. Apparently, the figure sensed her, though, and threw itself to one side, making Buffy miss and "oof" as she hit the ground. Both rolled to a standing position facing each other. Kim and Faith turned and came running back, getting their first look at the figure.

The figure was a beautiful latina girl, maybe their age age, maybe a few years older. It was hard to tell. Kim looked over and noticed Faith raise her eyebrows as she checked the other girl out. Kim rolled her eyes. _Here we go again!_

"Is there a problem?" the girl asked sardonically.

Buffy glared at her. "Yeah, there is,"she said. "Why are you following us?"

The latina smirked again, holding up her hands in supplication. "It's not what you're thinking,"she said. "I don't bite." She seemed amused as the girls looked at her, perplexed. "Truth is, I thought you'd all be taller. Or bigger. You know, more muscles and all. Still, you're pretty spry. You almost got me there!"

Faith stepped up to her. "Yunno, you're no bigger than I am," she said.

The girl gave Faith the same appraising look. "I noticed," she said playfully.

Kim and Buffy exchanged a look, shaking their heads. "WHAT do you want?" asked Kim ,trying to get them back on track.

The girl looked at them, all mysterious, and Kim had to admit, kinda sexy. She didn't really like girls, like Faith did, but, could recognize a sexy one when she saw one. "Same thing you do," the girl said cryptically.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Okaaaaay," she said. "What do WE want?"

The girl looked at Faith. "From me? Well, SHE wants dinner, and a movie, maybe a full body massage." Faith rolled her eyes but didn't argue. "In general?" The girl's face went deadly serious. "To kill 'em,"she said simply. "To kill 'em all."

Faith made a buzzing noise. "Sorry," said Buffy, doing her best impression of a game show announcer. "You're wrong. But you do get this lovely watch and a years supply of Turtle Wax as a parting gift."

" What I want," said Kim. " is to be left alone."

"You really think that's an option anymore?" asked the girl. "You're standing at the mouth of Hell, and it's about to open." She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out three small boxes, tossing one to each of the girls. "You'll need these. Don't turn your back on this. You've got to be ready."

"Ready for what?" Buffy asked, turning to face her.

"The Harvest," said the girl, turning to leave.

"Wait,"said Faith. "Who are you?"

The girl stopped and looked back at them, the smirk returning. "Let's just say I'm a friend," she said, winking at Faith and turning to leave again.

Kim rolled her eyes. "Maybe we don't WANT a friend," she said, slightly petulantly.

The girl never turned. "I never said I was YOURS,"she called back as she walked away.

The girls stared at her retreating back, Faith obviously enjoying the gentle sway of the girls hips. Kim nudged her. "Knock it off, horndog!" she scolded, opening her box. Faith and Buffy did the same.

In each box, was a small, antique silver cross on a chain. All three were identical.

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Trying to forget their rather strange encounter with the latina girl, Buffy, Faith and Kim paid her cover charge and entered the Bronze, looking around. She saw Cordelia and some of her friends, but, then she saw Willow up at the bar, ordering a soda. They walked up and joined her.

"Hi!" they all said brightly

"Oh! Hi! Hi," said Willow, looking surprised, but she smile at them.

Kim was about to say something, but, she looked over and noticed Trini. She waved. Trini smield and came over.

"Hi!" said Kim.

"Hi Trini," said Willow.

"Hi Kim, Hi Willow," said Trini. She looked at Buffy and Faith. "You must be Kim's sisters."

"Oh yeah, sorry. said Kim. "These are my sisters, Faith and Buffy. Guys, this is my new friend Trini." Kim looked at her concernedly. "How you doing?"

"I'm doing ok," said Trini, looking a little disturbed by what she and Kim had seen earlier. "I just needed to get out of the house." They all nodded sympathetically.

Faith looked around. "Are you here with someone?" she asked Willow.

"Oh no," answered Willow, perhaps a little embarrassed. "I'm just here because I thought Xander was gonna show up." Trini smiled and shook her head slightly.

"Oh?" said Kim, smiling, intrigued. "Are you guys going out?"

"Oh no," said Willow. "We're just friends. We USED to go out, but we broke up."

"Oh? How come," asked Buffy.

Willow blushed. "He...stole my Barbie."

The girls looked confused.

"We were five," explained Trini. "I've known Willow, and Xander since kindergarten."

"Oh," said Buffy, seemingly all she could think to say.

"I don't actually date a whole lot...lately," said Willow.

"Why not?" asked Faith.

"Well,"said Willow, clearly a little embarrassed at being the center of attention. "When I'm with a boy I like, it's hard for me to say something cool, or witty, or...at ALL actually. I usually just make a few vowel sounds then run away."

Trini laughed. "It's not THAT bad," she said.

"It IS," insisted Willow. "I think boys are more interested in a girl who can talk."

Kim looked at her. "Wow, you really HAVEN'T been dating lately," she said. Her sisters nodded. "How about you, Trini?"

Trini blushed. "I can talk to boys," she said. "but I freeze up the moment one asks me out." Willow nodded.

"It's probably easier for you three ," said Willow.

"Oh yeah, REALLY easy," said Buffy, a little forlornly.

"I mean you don't seem too shy,"said Willow.

"Well, our philosophy is," Buffy said.

"Buff," interrupted Kim. "Maybe they don't to hear our philosophy."

"Oh, I DO," said Willow.

"Me too," said Trini.

"Life is short,"said Buffy and Faith together.

"Life is short," said Willow, as if she had been expecting more.

"Not terribly original "I'll give you that," said Buffy. "But it's true. Why waste time being all shy? Why worry about if some guy who is probably just as nervous as you are is gonna laugh at you? You know?"

"Seize the day," said Faith. " Because, tomorrow you might be dead."

Kim rolled her eyes. "Did you HAVE to add that part?" Faith nudged her.

"Oh," said Willow. "That's nice..."

Buffy chuckled. Willow seemed to find it a touch...morbid. Movement on the balcony caught her attention, and she looked up, seeing a familiar figure. She nudged her sisters who both looked up and nodded. "We'll be right back," she said.

"Oh, that's ok," said Willow, hurriedly. "You don't have to come back."

Kim smiled at their new friends self effacing attitude. "We'll be right back, she said, more firmly than Buffy had. As they walked away, sthey heard Willow and Trini both mutter "Seize the day."

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The girls made their way up to a balcony overlooking the stage, and saw Giles leaning up against it. They went up and joined him, Faith on one side, Buffy and Kim on the other. " So, you like to party with the students?" Faith teased. " Isn't that kinda skanky?"

Giles tone was withering. "Right, this is me having fun. Watching clown hair prance around is certainly MY idea of a party. I'd much rather be home with a cup of bovril and a good book."

Buffy grinned and shook her head. "You need a personality, stat."

"What the hell is bovril?" asked Faith. Kim shrugged.

"This is the perfect breeding ground for vampiric activity," he admonished them. "Dark, crowded...Besides, I figured you'd show up, and I have to make you understand..."

"The Harvest is coming," interrupted Kim. "We know, your friend told us."

Giles started and gave her an anxious look. "What did you say?" he asked.

"The...Harvest," said Buffy carefully. "That's what your friend said. Does that mean anything to you? Because, we're drawing a blank."

"I'm not sure," said Giles thoughtfully. "Who told you this?"

"This girl," said Faith, fingering the cross she was wearing. They had all three put on the crosses. " About my height, latina, mysterious, REALLY pretty," she stared off for a moment, then added," in an annoying sort of way. We thought she was a friend of yours."

"No," said Giles, confused both by Faith's words and the way she was acting. "Did she say anything else?"

"Just something about the mouth of Hell,"said Buffy irritably. "We really didn't like her!"

"Well, two of us didn't," muttered Kim under her breath, earning a glare from Faith.

Giles nodded thoughtfully, and the four observed the crowd for a moment in silence, as the kids bopped and swayed to the rythm of the band.

"Look at them," Giles said, sounding almost annoyed. "Throwing themselves about, completely unaware of the danger that surrounds them."

The girls didn't look at him. "Lucky them," Faith said wistfully.

"Or, you could be right," Giles conceded. "Maybe there is no trouble brewing. The signs have been wrong before. It's not like you're having the dreams."

The girls all started started, thinking of the nightmare Buffy had had before school this morning. They sighed and looked back at the crowd.

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Jesse pushed his way through the crowd at the Bronze. He hadn't seen Xander yet, and he'd noticed Willow talking to the new girl they'd met at school, Buffy and decided not to bother them, so now, he, Jesse Mcnally, was on the prowl.

He spotted his prey, Cordelia Chase, holding court over her little group of Cordettes. His breath caught. yeah, Cordelia was a bitch a lot of the time, especially to he, Willow and Xander, but he'd had a major crush on her almost since day one. He started over. Tonight is my night, he thought to himself. Tonight everything changes.

"My Mom doesn't even get out of bed anymore," Cordelia was saying. The doctor says it's Epstein Barr, but I'm like "please! It's chronic hepatitis, or at least Chronic Fatigue Syndrome." I mean, nobody cool has Epstein Barr anymore." Her Cordettes nodded like the mindless drones most of them were.

"Cordelia," said Jesse, walking over with what he hoped was a charming smile.

"Oh yay,"said Cordelia rolling her eyes at her friends. "It's my stalker."

Jesse ignored the insult and stood right next to her. All thought left his brain, and the only thing he could come up with to say was, "Hey, you look great!"

"Well, I'm glad we had this chat," said Cordelia, starting to move away.

""Listen," Jesse blurted out. "I, um, well, do you wanna dance?

Cordelia looked almost stunned. "With YOU?" she asked witheringly.

Jesse tried to laugh it off. "Well, uh, yeah," he said.

"Well, uh, NO," said Cordelia, completely dismissing him as she and her friends took off.

Jesse watched them go, ignoring the stab of pain he felt. "Plenty of other fish in the sea," he said to himself. "Oh yeah, back on the prowl. Witness me prowling."

As he renewed his prowl, he missed a really pretty blonde girl watching him, predatorially.

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"Look," Faith said to Giles, speaking for all three of them. "It's not like we're saying we'll NEVER slay another vampire. If we run into one sure."

"We're just not going to get way extra curricular with it." added Kim. It sounded lame, even to her own ears.

"But will you be ready?" asked Giles. "There's so much you don't know about them, about your own powers. A vampire appears to be a normal human, until the feed is upon them. Only then do they reveal their demonic visage."

"Demonic visage?" quoted Buffy. "You're like a walking thesaurus. Besides, I KNOW all this!"

Ignoring Buffy's outburst, Giles continued. "The point is, a Slayer should be able to see them anyway. Without looking. Without thinking. Can you tell me if there's a vampire in this building? Any of you"

The girls scanned the crowd. "Maybe?" Kim said.

"You should KNOW!" Giles said. "Even through this mass and this...din. You should be able to sense them. Try. Reach out with your mind."

They each took a deep breath and looked out over the crowd.

"You have to hone your senses,"instructed Giles. "Focus until the energy washes over you..."

"There's two right there," Buffy interrupted.

"What?" asked Giles, looking down at the crowd. "Where?"

Faith pointed. "Right there,"she said. "Talking to those girl."

In the far corner, two good looking young man were talking to two girls who had her backs to Giles and the girls.

Giles looked doubtful. "But you don't KNOW..."

"Oh, please," interrupted Kim. "That jacket? With the sleeves all rolled up? And that shirt."

"And the other one looks like Miami Vice on steroids." added Faith. " Deal with those outfits for a moment!"

Giles looked. "They're dated?" he asked.

"They're CARBON dated!" answered Buffy. "Vampires always think fashion ended the year they died. Trust me, only someone who's been skulking underground for at least ten years would think that was the look!"

"But...but you didn't hone..." began Giles.

"Oh NO," exclaimed Faith suddenly, pointing.

The vampires were still chatting with the girls, motioning for the girls to come with them. They stepped aside and the girls turned, and, Faith's Buffy's and Kim's stomachs all dropped.

"Isn't that..." Giles began.

"Willow," said Buffy.

"And Trini," said Kim.

"What are they doing?" asked Giles

"Seizing the moment," Faith threw back at him as the girls headed off towards the stairs.

The girls fought their way back down the stairs and looked around. There was no sign of Willow, Trini or the vampire's they'd been talking to. Picking a direction the girls headed for the backstage door. The closer they got, the more of a crowd they had to fight their way through, but they finally made it and pushed through the door.

They found it dark, and something of a labyrinth back one seemed to be about, but they still made her way cautiously. Buffy spied an old chair and snapped off a leg to mnake a makeshift stake.

Kim rolled her eyes and reached into her purse. She held a stake in either hand, giving Buffy a "really?" look. Buffy shrugged as Kim handed one of the stakes to Faith and the girls continued looking around, Buffy in the lead.

Suddenly, as she turned a corner, there was a figure in front of her face to face. Buffy grabbed him ad slammed him against the wall, lifting him two feet off the floor, holding the stake to his chest. . Faith and Kim each raised their stakes as well. He made a girlish squeak.

It wasn't a him!

"Cordelia!" exclaimed Buffy, lowering the stake and setting her down.

Cordelia's dumbfounded look was almost comical. "God!" she exclaimed. "WHAT exactly is your childhood trauma? Could you three BE any weirder?"

The girls looked around. Oh goody. Cordelia's court was with her. "Did you guys see Willow?" Kim asked. "Or Trini Kwan? Did they go by here?"

"Why?" asked Cordy. "Did you need to attack them with a stick too?"

The girls blushed and gave up. They went back the way they came, leaving Cordelia and her friends still agape.

Cordelia regained her composure and took out her phone. "Excuse me," she said. "I need to call everybody I've ever met!"

The made their way back into the Bronze proper and found Giles waiting for them.

"Is he dead?"he asked , sounding impressed. "That was fast. Well done. I'd best get to the library. This "Harvest" is...""

"We didn't find them," said Faith.

Giles looked shocked. "The vampire's aren't dead?" he asked.

"No," snapped Buffy. "But our social life is on the critical list"

"What do we do,"asked Giles.

"You go on. I'll take care of it," Kim said as they turned to leave.

"Maybe I should come with you," said Giles, worried for some reason.

"'Two vampires, three of us," said Buffy as they left. "We've got this."

The girls were so focused, they didn't notice as they brushed past Jesse, and Billy as they were talking to the same blonde girl who'd been watching Jesse earlier and an equally pretty brunette.

"I haven't seen either of you before," Jesse said to them, again trying to be charming. "Do you live around here."

"No," said the blonde smiling up at them, both innocently and flirtatiously. "But I have family here."

Jesse nudged Billy. "Er, Have we met them?" Billy asked.

The brunette gave them a mysterious smile. "You probably WILL," she said.

"What're your names?" asked Jesse, totally forgetting his humiliation at Cordelia's hands earlier.

"Darla," answered the blonde.

"Sheila," answered the brunette.

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Across town, the large vampire stood by an alter, watching the pool of blood on the floor. He moved back, his eyes wide with religous fervor as a head shot up from the pool. While it had two eyes, a nose, a mouth, and two ears, other than that, there was virtually no resemblance to a human face. The head rose from the blood, a slim but obviously powerful body attached to it. It was wearing a black leather outfit with a vaguely SS look to it.

As powerful as the large vampire was, he obviously stood in awe of this one. "Master," he said reverently.

The Master looked back at him. "Luke," he said. "I'm weak."

"Come the Harvest, you'll be restored," said Luke with conviction.

"The Harvest," said the Master with almost the reverence Luke held him in.

"We are almost there, my Master," said Luke. "Soon, you'll be free."

The Master stepped forward, past Luke. He stopped and reached his hand out slowly. As he did, the air before him seemed to rippel slightly... a sort of mystic wall. He pulled his hand back and turned to Luke. "I must be ready," he said. "I need my strength."

"I've sent your servants to bring you some food," said Luke.

"Good," answered the Master simply, clearly dismissing Luke. "Luke," he called as the bigger vampire started to leave.

Luke paused. "Yes?" he asked.

"Bring me something...young," ordered the Master.

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Willow found herself nervously uncomfortable as she and Trini walked down the street with the boys, Thomas and Micheal they'd said their name's were, who had approached them at the Bronze. Leaving with them was totally unlike either of them , but Buffy's and Faith's words had struck a chord with them. Willow looked around nervously. "Sure is dark," she said, desperately searching for SOMETHING to say.

Thomas shrugged. "It's night," was all he said.

"That's a dark time," agreed Trini, somewhat lamely. "Night. Traditionally." She too was clearly ouyt of her element. Willow was wishing they were already at the ice cream place so at least she wouldn't have to talk much while eating ice cream.

The guys pretty much ignored them , then stopped and turned towards the woods.

"Er," said Willow. "The ice cream bar is down that way."

"Past Hamilton street," added Trini.

Micheal smiled. "We know a shortcut," he said, taking Trini's hand as Thomas took Willows hand and leading them into the dark woods.

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As they arrived outside the Bronze, Kim saw no sign of Willow or Trini or of the vampire's. She did however see Xander, approaching the Bronze, carrying his skateboard. She pointed and the girls walked up to him.

"You're leaving already?" he asked.

"Xander, have you seen Willow and Trini?" Buffy asked him.

"Not tonight," answered Xander, not seeming too concerned.

"I need to find her," said Faith. "She left with a couple of guys."

"We are talking about Willow and Trini, right?" asked Xander. He looked impressed. "Scoring at the Bronze. Work it, girlfriend's!"

Kim looked around, increasingly perturbed. "Where would they go?"

"Why?" asked Xander. . "Do you know something about these two Mr. Goodbar's that they don't?" He seemed to think of something."Oh, hey,I hope he isn't a VAMPIRE, because then you'd have to SLAY him!"

Kim turned to look at him shocked. First Giles, then the girl in the alley and now him. "Was there a school bulletin?" she asked. "Was it on the news? Is there anybody in this town that doesn't know we're the Slayer's?"

"I only know that you THINK you're the Slayer's," said Xander. "And I only knwo thatbecause I was in the library earlier when you three were talking to The Man In Tweed."

Buffy shook her head. "Whatever," she said. "Just tell us where Willow and Trini would go."

Xander gave them a long look. "You're serious," he concluded.

"We don't find them, there's gonna be another dead body in the morning," said Faith.

Xander nodded. It was clear he believed them. "C'mon," he said and the four of them took off.

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Willow was getting increasingly creeped out. Thomas and Micheal had led them into a graveyard. "Ok, this is nice," she said. "and-and scary. Are you SURE this way is faster?"

The guys said nothing, they just continued to hold onto their hands and pull them 'd seemed so nice and charming at The Bronze, but now they just seemed...almost predatory. Willow could tell Trini agreed.

They stopped at a small mausoleum. The entrance was bathed in blackness. "Ever been inside one of these?" Micheal asked them.

"No," Trini answered, trying to pull away. "And no thank you."

"C'mon," he said, moving closer. "What are you afraid of?"

Willow stumbled as both she and Trini were pushed inside. She looked around, frightened, as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. The place was small, with carved stone walls. A large tomb, with a statue of a man lying atop it filled much of the space. Across from the main door which she just came in, was a much smaller iron door.

The two girls spun around, glaring at Thomas and Micheal , who were now filling the entrance. "That wasn't funny," Willow scolded. It had no effect. They just stepped closer to them, their face hidden in shadows. Willow and Trini , backed away from him, circling back towards the entrance. " I think we're, just gonna go now," Trini said , taking Willow's hand.

"Is that what you think?" Thomas asked, no playfulness to his voice, only menace. The girls continued to back away, then each backed right into somebody. They stepped back, Willow emitting something somewhere betwen a squeak and a scream. She saw the person she backed into was a blonde girl wearing a catholic school uniform and a brunette in more typical teenager clothes.

Sheila looked at them disdainfully. "Is this the best you can do?" she asked Thomas and Micheal.

Thomas shrugged. "She's fresh," he said, the four conversing as if Willow and Trini were not even there.

"Hardly enough to share," commented Darla.

Micheal shrugged this . "You should have brought your own then."

Darla smirked and indicated the doorway. "We did," she said as Jesse came stumbling in, looking totally out of it, Billy with him, lookign confused but more with it.

"Hey, wait up," Jesse said, holding his neck.

"JESSE!" exclaimed Willow.

"BILLY!" exclaimed Trini. Both girls ran over to them.

Jesse looked at Darla. "I think you gave me a hickey," he said. He pulled his hand away to reveal blood on both it and his neck. Willow's eyes went wide as she stared at Thomas and Darla.

Darla shrugged as Thomas gave her a look. "I got hungry on the way," she said.

Willow grabbed Jesse's arm. "Jesse," she said, almost panicked. "Let's get out of here."

Trini and Billy exchanged a look. "An excellent notion," said Billy

Sheila took a step towards them. "You're not going anywhere!" she said menacingly. Darla stepped up next to her

"Leave us alone!" Willow half demanded, half pleaded.

They lunged forward, Darla face to face with Willow, Sheila face to face with Trini. "You're not going anywhere until we've FED!" Sheila snarled. Their faces changing. Their eyes went yellow, their faces taking on a sort of ridged bumpy look and their teeth elongated. Willow screamed and pulled back and fell to the floor. Thomas and Micheals faces had changed too and they laughed as they, Darla, and Sheila circled them.

"Well, this is nice," came a voice from the doorway. Willow looked in that direction.

It was Buffy's voice. Faith and Kimberly were with her!

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Buffy looked appraisingly around the room as she and her sisters stepped inside, Xander behind them. The mausoleum was now rather crowded

"A little bare," Kim quipped. "But, throw on a dash of paint, put out a few throw pillows and call it home!"

"You two are weird," said Faith, shaking her head.

"Who the hell are you?" snarled Darla.

Buffy looked surprised. "Wow, you mean there's actually somebody in this town who DOESN'T know already? That's a relief. I tell ya, keeping a secret identity in this town is a job of work!"

Xander moved towards Willow,Jesse, Trini and Billy and helped Willow to her feet. "Guys, we bail now, right?" he said.

"Not just yet," said Thomas threateningly.

Buffy looked at him and rolled her eyes. "First of all," she said. "what is with that outfit? Live in the now, ok? You like like...DeBarge." She turned to Darla. "Now, we can do this the hard way or..."

"Well, yunno what?" snarled Faith." There's actually only the hard way!"

"Fine by us," said Darla.

"Are you sure?" asked Buffy. "Because this isn't gonna be pretty. We're talking violence, strong language, adult content..."

Thomas and Micheal growled, tired of their talk and charged at them. Without ever looking at him, Buffy whipped out a stake from her jacket and thrust it behind her, letting Thomas impale himself on it. His eyes went wide as he exploded into dust. Faith turned and met Micheal with a punch to the face, then a kick to the gut. She flipped him over, and Kim whipped out a stake and dusted him too.

Buffy looked to Darla and Sheila. "SEE what happens when you roughhouse?" she asked.

Darla looked wary but nowhere near cowed. "They were young and stupid," she said, assuming a fighting stance and circling Buffy. Sheila doing the same with Faith.

"Kim, get them out of here!" shouted Buffy, never taking her eyes off Darla.

Kim looked like she was about to argue. "GO!" ordered Faith. "We've got this!" Kim nodded and ushered the others outside, Xander and Billy supporting Jesse.

"Don't go far!" Darla called after them. She lunged at Buffy who parried her blows with martial arts precision. The last punch, she caught Darla's wrist, landed a punch of her own to the gut and flipped Darla to the ground.

Sheila charged Faith, who caught her by her jacket and slammed her against a wall.

Buffy stood over Darla, all traces of humor gone from her face. "You know," she said. "We JUST wanted to start over. Be like everybody else. Have some friends, maybe a dog. But, no, you had to come here."

Faith punched Shelia. " You couldn't go suck on some other town!"

The vampires were completely bemused. "Who ARE you?" Darla asked.

Buffy gave her an almost predatory look."You don't know?" she asked.

Suddenly, large hands grabbed Faith and Buffy each by the throat and lifted them bodily from the ground. He stepped out of the shadows, his bulk dwarfing The girls. "I don't care," he said.

"Luke!" exclaimed Sheila.

Luke threw the girls a good fifteen feet. They hit the wall, face first, landing badly. He turned to Darla and Sheila . "You were supposed to bring offerings for the Master," he said accusingly. "We're almost at the Harvest, and you dally with these children?"

"We each had someone," protested Darla. "But they came and...they killed Thomas and Micheal. Luke, they're strong."

Luke waved Darla off contemptuously. "You go," he ordered. "I'll stay and see if I can handle these little girls." Darla left and Luke turned back to Buffy and Faith.

Buffy and Faith got to their feet, ready for him this time. He reached out and grabbed Faith, but she knocked his arms away and the girls double kicked him in the face, knocking him back. He recovered in a second and landed a solid punch to Buffy's face.

"You ARE strong," he granted, almost seeming impressed. Then he slammed Faith back into the ground.. "I'm stronger." He threw a punch which caught Faith in the face, knocking her out.

Buffy got to her feet and threw a punch, which Luke blocked. She ducked under one of his, threw another and he caught her arm, backhanding her and knocking her back again. He looked at her disdainfully. "You're wasting my time," he said.

Buffy circled the tomb, keeping it between herself and Luke. "Hey, we had other plans too," she said. Luke suddenly shoved the tomb with all his might, sending it flying towards her. Buffy jumped over it, landing on top of the tomb, then leaped off of it, did a flip and landed both feet solidly in Lukes chest, knocking them both back. She recovered first, and pulled her stake back out, driving it towards his chest. He caught it at the last minute and squeezed, splintering it in his powerful grip.

"You think you can stop me? Can stop US?" he asked as he drove a solid punch into her jaw and knocked her to the ground, dazed. "You have no idea what you're dealing with!" he stood over her, looking triumphant.

"And like a plague of boils," he intoned. "the race of Man covered the Earth. But, on the third day of the newest light will come the Harvest. When the blood of men shall flow as wine. When the Master shall walk among them once more. The world will belong to the Old Ones, and Hell itself will come to town."

Buffy slowly got to her feet, keeping an eye on Luke. This vampire was too strong! But, it wasn't in her to give up, scared as she might be. She lunged in to attack,but he backhanded her with everything he had, sending her flying right into the tomb. She landed hard, knocking the wind out of her. Beside her, she was the withered corpse of the tombs owner.

Buffy was hurt pretty bad, as she looked up to see no Luke. Where was he? Was Faith ok? Slowly, achingly, she lifted her head. Truly scared, she looked over one side of the tomb. She looked over the other...

Luke suddenly roared and leaped on top of tried to fight him off, but he had her well pinned. He contemplated her with a gleeful animal hunger for a moment.

"Amen," he said as he bored down on her.

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A/N: Yeah, I decided to throw in some femslash and replace Angel. The latina Faith was flirting with may seem familiar to readers of my other stories. It IS supposed to be Santana from Glee. What's up with her will become clear as time goes on. And don't worry, no Angel does not mean no boyfriend for Buffy. Just keep reading and see what happens.

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Please let me know what you think.


	5. Chapter 4 The Harvest Pt 1

A/N :I've revised Chapter 1 a bit. The scene that explains a little more about Buffy, Faith and Kim's shared destiny. I originally had all three of them getting less than full Slayer power, with Faith as the strongest, Kim as the fastest, and Buffy down the middle. Well, now, Buffy is a full fledged Slayer, and Faith and Kim each got partial Slayer power. So, instead of being the strongest of the three, Faith is now as strong as Buffy but not as fast, and Kim instead of being fastest, is as fast as Buffy but not as strong. It just makes more sense to me that way, as Buffy is the true Chosen One, that she at least would have full Slayer power.

 **Chapter Four The Harvest Part 1**

Kim ushered the other five, Xander and Billy supporting Jesse, ahead of her. It was REALLY sticking in her craw that she'd left Buffy and Faith behind, but they had been right. Somebody needed to protect and get the others to safety.

Finally, they reached the outskirts of the cemetery. "Ok, hold up," she said. Everybody stopped and looked at her. "I'm going back," she said. "I can't leave Buffy and Faith alone back there."

"Kim, are you sure about that?" asked Trini.

"We don't have time to argue," said Kim. "Go to the police station. It's only a couple of blocks. And you guys, be careful."

"You too," said Xander as they went off in one direction and Kim went back the say they'd come.

Kim tore through the cemetery, which was rather maze like. Then she stopped for a moment to catch her breath and get her bearings. She got a funny feeling and looked up to see two vampires ahead of her, blocking her way.

"Well, damn," she said quietly.

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Luke bore down on Buffy. No matter how she struggled she couldn't get away. His eyes aglow with victory he ripepd open her shirt a bit for easier access to her throat and grabbed her...

Suddenly, he screamed and grabbed his own face. As smoke curled out from between his fingers, he was suddenly pulled back. Buffy started to rise when a hand appeared, offering help. She took it and was pulle from the crypt to see Faith standing there, holding the cross that girl had given her earlier, smoke coming from the cross. "C'mon!" said Faith.

Battered and winded from the fight, the two made their way a short way away from the mausoleum and looked behind them. No sign of pursuit. Buffy did a quick scan of the graveyard and heard the sounds of a scuffle.

Close by, they found Kim in combat with two vampires. She dodged under the arms of one and kicked the other in the gut, then launched an uppercut into the first one's jaw, and pulled back from them. Luckily, she still had a stake, which she whipped out. Before Buffy or Faith could move, Kim ran forward, put her hands on one of the vampire's shoulders and did a flip over him, landing behind him. With superhuman precision, she staked him in the back, dusting him. The other vampire spun to face her, but she was much faster than him and kicked him hard. She may not be as strong as Buffy or Faith, but she was still stronger than a girl her size had any right to be, and she managed to knock him back and down.

Buffy snapped a branch off of a nearby tree and slammed it home into his chest, causing him to explode into dust. She and Faith ran over to Kim.

"Where are the others?" asked Faith

"I came to help you," said Kim, a little breathlessly. "I told the others to get to the police station. I ran into Bert and Ernie on my way back."

Kim led her sisters in the direction she had come from. As they ran, they heard a scream.

"Willow!" said all three at once, taking off in that direction.

They found Willow pinned to the ground by a vampire. Buffy wasted no time in launching her foot into his face. He flew back, clutching his nose. Faith, who had snapped off a tree branch like Buffy, charged in and staked him as Kim helped Willow up.

They heard a sound off to their left and turned to see Billy, cornered by a vampire, Trini, using some martial arts moves to try and fight of another, and Xander, unconscious,being dragged off by two more. With a snarl Buffy launched herself forward and took each of the ones dragging Xander down with one punch each. One hit his head on a gravestone, stunning himself Buffy took the opportunity stake other vampire, who turned out to be Sheila scrambled off. Kim ran forward and staked the vampire Trini was attempting to fight from behind. Faith grabbed the vampire that was threatening Billy and punched him several times in the face. Her dander was up, and the vampire, though he tried to fight back, had no chance. Soon he was dust.

"Thank you," Billy said to Faith. "Your arrival was most fortuitous."

"Where'd you learn those moves?" Kim asked Trini.

"Our school has a karate club," answered Trini. "I'm a member."

Willow ran to Xander and knelt down cradling his head. He started to come to. "Xander, are you ok?" she asked.

"Man," he said. "Something hit me."

Buffy, Faith and Kim, all looked around, battle ready. "Where's Jesse?" Buffy asked.

"I-I don't know," said Willow. "They surrounded us. He was pretty weak."

"That girl took him," said Xander, rising to his feet. "The blonde from the crypt. They took off."

"Which way?" asked Buffy.

Xander shook his head. "I didn't see."

They all looked around. There was no way to tell.

Faith found herself near tears as she exchanged a helpless look with her sisters. She'd shared a class with Billy and Jesse earlier, and she and Jesse had really got along. And now, he was gone. "Jesse," she said quietly.

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Jesse stumbled along as the three weirdo's dragged him underground. What was up with their faces? They'd spoken a little, and Jesse got that the big dude's name was Luke the blonde girl was called Darla, and the brunette girl was called Sheila. He looked around as they dragged him through the tunnels, and into what almost looked like the remains of an old church, only, underground. The big guy had him by the neck as all three stood and waited.

A figure moved out from the shadows. A man? stepped out. His skin was pale and he was even uglier than the other three. He just radiated power and it was obvious the others both revered and feared him.

He looked at Jesse. "Is this for me?" he asked.

"An offering, Master," said Luke.

"He's a good one, Master,"said Darla, excitedly. "His blood is pure."

The man they called Master turned to look at her. "You've tasted it," he said, a statement, not a question. Darla shrank back. "I'm your loyal dog," he said. "You bring me scraps."

Darla practically shook with fear. "I-I didn't mean," she stammered.

"I have waited,"said the Master dangerously. "For three score years, I have waited. While you come and go, I have been stuck HERE," he looked around in disgust."in this house of WORSHIP!" He moved closer to Darla. "My ascension is almost at hand. Pray that when it comes I'm in a better mood!"

"M-master," said Sheila. "Forgive me. We had more offerings, but there was trouble. Three girls. They killed Thomas, and Pete, and the others."

"Three GIRLS?" thundered the Master. "Are you seriously trying to tell me three little girls killed several of my minions? How useless ARE you people?"

"They were strong, Master," protested Darla.

"I saw two of them, Master," added Luke. "A blonde and a brunette. They fought well, and they knew of our breed. It almsot seems that they may both have been..."

"Slayer's," finished the Master in wonder. "Have you any proof?"

"Only that they fought me and yet live," Luke answered.

The Master nodded. "Very nearly proof enough. I honestly can't remember the last time that happened."

Luke looked at the floor in shame. "It was 1843, Madrid," he said. "He caught me sleeping."

"But two Slayers, Master?" said Darla, looking confused. "There is always only one."

"In fact,"said Sheila. "the third girl was also strong and fast."

"Three possible Slayers," said The Master thoughtfully. " A definite mystery. They must not be allowed to interfere in the Harvest," he said thoughtfully,.

Lukes eyes went wide. "I would NEVER let that happen!"

"You needn't worry," said the Master, reassuringly. "I believe they will come to us. We have something they wants. If at least one of them is indeed a Slayer, and this boy lives, she will come to save him."

Luke smiled and stepped closer to Jesse. Jesse nearly fainted when Luke smiled at him.

"I thought you merely a meal, boy," he said. "but you've just been upgraded. To BAIT!"

"Uh, yay me?" said Jesse, wishing in the moment he was literally ANYWHERE else.

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It was a somber group that met the next morning. They'd all agreed to meet there to compare notes, and for the others to meet Buffy's, Faith's and Kim's "Watcher", Rupert Giles, who would explain things to them.

Right now, Giles was standing on the libraries upper level, looking over the railing at the others as they all sat at one of the library tables. Willow, Xander, Trini and Billy all looked as if they had gotten little to no sleep. Faith and Kim sat next to each other, almost huddled together. All three sisters had had a rough night, and had chosen to all three squeeze into the big bed together.

"The world is older than any of you know," said Giles gravely, giving a nearby globe a spin. "and contrary to popular mythology, it did not begin as a paradise. For untold eons, Demons walked the Earth, made it their home...their Hell." He started down the stairs.

"In time, they lost their purchase on this reality," continued Giles, ignoring her. "and way was made for mortal animals. For Man. What remains of the Old Ones are vestiges: Certain magics, certain creatures..."

"Like vampires," said Buffy, coming out of Giles office wrapping a bandage around her forearm. She sat down with Faith and Kim.

Xander rose, clearly agitated, and started pacing. "Okay, this is where I have a problem, see," he said. "because we're now talking about vampires. We're having a talk with vampires in it, and you four," he indicate Giles and the sisters. "are acting like it's the most normal thing in the world!"

"Ooooooh," said Willow looking dazed. "I need to sit down!"

"You ARE sitting down," said Faith, amusedly.

"Oh," said Willow. "Good for me!"

""So, vampires are demons,"concluded Trini, getting back on track.

Giles nodded. "The books tell that the last Demon to leave this reality fed off a human, mixed their blood. He was a human form possessed -infected- by the Demon's soul. And so they walk the Earth, feeding. Killing some, mixing their blood with others to make more of their kind. Waiting for the animals to die out, and the old ones to return."Giles spoke as if reciting something he had long ago memorized. "As long as there have been vampires, there has been the Slayer. One girl in all the world ..."

Buffy interrupted. "He loves doing this part." Both of her sisters nudged her, but chuckled softly.

Giles gave them a death glare. "All right," he said. "The Slayer hunts vampires. When one Slayer dies, the next is called. Buffy Faith and Kim are Slayers. Don't tell anyone." He looked at Buffy. "Happy?"

"Ecstatic," said Buffy dryly.

"Wait," said Billy, apparently picking up on something the others had missed. "You said "ONE girl in all the world". Well, I'm quite versed in math, and Buffy, Faith and Kimberly together equals three girls."

"Our last Watcher thought it was because we were triplets," answered Faith. He figured that we must have all three had the potential to be the Slayer, and that when Buffy was called, since we share DNA that somehow, Kim and I were called as well."

"Only Buffy is a full Slayer," added Kim. "Faith and I have a portion of the power but not all of it."

Giles nodded."Anyway," he said. "I think that's al lthe vampire information you need."

"Except for one thing,"said Xander with venom. "How do you kill them?"

"YOU don't," said Buffy emphatically. "WE do."

"Well, Jesse, ...," protested Xander

"Jesse is OUR responsibility," said Faith grimly. "WE let them get taken."

"Mostly ME," said Kim, who was still feeling guilty about leaving the others to go back and help her sisters.

"That's not true,"said Trini.

Willow shook her head. "If you hadn't showed up when you did, they would have...would have...taken the rest of us too," she said, then suddenly looked pale. "Anybody mind if I pass out?"

Trini put her hand on Willow's shoulder. "Breathe," she instructed.

"Breathe," agreed Willow.

"Breathe," said Buffy who thought a moment and turned to Giles. "The big guy , Luke," she said. "he talked about an "offering" to "the Master". I don't know who or what that is, but, if they weren't just feeding,Jesse may still be alive. We're gonna find him."

Trini looked up. "This is probably a dumb question," she said. "but shouldn't we call the police?" Willow and Billy both nodded

Faith scoffed. "They'd believe us, of course," said Giles.

"We don't have to say vampires," Willow said . "We could just say there's a...bad man." She winced. That sounded lame even to her.

"They couldn't handle it if they did come," said Buffy, dismissively. "They'd just show up with guns."

Giles looked to the sisters. "You've no idea where they took Jesse?" he asked.

Kim shook her head. "We looked around," she said. "but as soon as they got clear of the woods they could have just...whoosh!" She made a sort of flying motion with her hands.

"They can fly too?" asked Xander.

Buffy gave him a smile. "They can drive."

"Oh,"said Xander.

"I don't remember hearing a car," said Billy.

Giles took of his glasses and chewed an ear piece. "Let's take an intuitive leap here," he said. "and assume they went underground."

Buffy nodded. "Vampires really jam on sewers," she said.

"You can get anywhere in town and not catch any rays." added Faith

" I didn't see any sewer access around there though," said Kim thoughtfully.

"Well ,there's electrical tunnels," supplied Billy. "they run under the whole town."

Giles looked thoughtful. "If we had a diagnostic of the tunnel system," he said. "it might indicate a possible meeting place. I suppose we could go to the building commission."

"We SO don't have time," said Buffy, dismissively.

Willow sort of raised her hand. "Guys," she said. "There may be another way."

She got up and walked over to one of the computer tables and fired the computer up. Trini followed her first, then the others. Billy frowing thoughtfully as Willow typed.

A map of the electrical tunnels came up on the computer screen.

"There it is," said Buffy.

Willow nodded and continued typing. "This runs under the graveyard."

"I don't see any access, though," said Faith, growing agitated.

Giles looked at the screen with raised eyebrows. "So, all the city plans are just open to the public?"

Willow looked a little nervous. "Er, well, in a way," she said. "I sort of stumbled onto them when I accidentally...decrypted the city council's security system." Faith shook her head and looked impressed.

"Someone's been naughty," Xander teased.

"There's nothing here!" snapped Buffy, turning away. "This is useless!" Faith and Kim nodded

"I think you should let up on yourselves,"said Giles frowning.

Buffy turned on him. "YOU'RE the one who told me I wasn't prepared enough," she snapped. "Understatement! I thought I was on top of it, then that monster Luke came out of nowhere..." she trailed off.

"What is it?" asked Kim.

Buffy paced, working it out. "He didn't come out of nowhere," she said. "He came from behind us. We was facing the entrance."

"He came up behind us and didn't follow us out!" added Faith. She exchanged an excited look with Buffy and Kim.

"The access to the tunnels is in the mausoleum!" Kim concluded.

"Are you sure?" asked Giles and Trini at the same time.

"The vampires must have doubled back with Jesse after I got out," said Buffy. She smacked her own forehead. "God, I am SO mentally challenged!"

"So, what's the plan?" asked Xander. "We saddle up and move out?"

"There is no we," said Buffy, softly. "We're the Slayer's. You guys aren't."

"I just KNEW you were gonna throw that in our faces," griped Xander angrily.

"Xander," said Faith, a trifle exasperatedly. "This is deeply dangerous!"

"I get it," said Xander, turning away. "I'm inadequate. That's fine. I'm less than a man."

"Xander,"said Kim.

"Guys," said Willow, shyly. "I'm not anxious to go into a dark place full of monsters, but I want to help too. I-I need to."

"As do I," said Billy. Trini nodded.

"Then, help me," said Giles. "I need to research this Harvest buisness. Perhaps you can wrest something from this dread machine." He looked a little embarrassed as they all looked at him. " That was a bit British of me, wasn't it?"

"Welcome to the new world," said Faith, shaking her head.

"He wants you to go on the Net," translated Trini, who often wound up translating for Billy as well.

"OH!" said Willow, happily. "Yeah. Sure. THAT I can do!" She exchanged a geeker grin with Billy.

"Then We're out of here," said Buffy. She looked to Willow, Xander, Trini and Billy. "If Jesse is alive, we'll bring him back."

"Do I need to tell you to be careful?" asked Giles. The sisters looked at him for a moment, then gave him, a small smile, and left.

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	6. Chapter 5 The Harvest Pt 2

**Chapter Five The Harvest Pt 2**

"And WHERE do we think we're going?"

Kim nearly jumped out of her shoes as the girls heard a voice behind them. They'd been just about to go through the open gate of the fence surrounding the school. All three girls turned to see Principal Flutie standing there.

"Er, who we?" asked Buffy. She motioned between all four of them "All of us we or..." she motioned to herself, Kim and Faith " just US we?"

Flutie ignored the somewhat confusing question. "We're not leaving school grounds are we?"

"I think he means US we," said Faith, indicating the three of them. Kim rolled her eyes.

"No, no,' said Buffy, grasping. "We were just...admiring the fence!"

Kim wanted to smack her, but, tried to help. "Yeah,"she said. "because this is some quality fence work!" She smield sweetly.

Flutie ignored them. "Because if we WERE leaving school grounds on our SECOND day at a new school after two of us were kicked out of our old school for delinquent behavior...do you see where I'm going with this?"

Kim and Faith looked at each other as Buffy blurted out "Mr. Giles!"

Flutie looked confused. What?" he asked.

"Right!" said Kim, catching on. "He asked us to pick up some books for him."

"From the book store," added Faith, unhelpfully. "Because...we all have a free period."

"And we're all big big readers," said Buffy. "Our transcripts mentioned that, didn't they?"

"Mr. Giles," repeated Flutie.

"Ask him," said Buffy. Kim had to fight a smile, knowing full well Giles would cover for them."

Flutie shook his head and pushed the gate shut, locking it. "Well," he said, turning to look at them. "That may be how they do things in jolly old England, where they have their royal family and all those problems, but HERE, in Sunnydale, nobody leaves campus while school is in session. Nobody." he looked at them very seriously. "Are we clear?"

Buffy gulped. "We're clear," she said.

"Totally clear," added Faith.

"Crystal clear," added Kim.

Flutie smiled at them and patted Kim on her shoulder. "Good!" he said. "Now THESE are the Summers girls I want at my school. Three sensible girls with their feet on the ground" He turned to leave, clearly confident in a job well done.

After he was gone, the three girls looked at each other. Buffy crouched down and leaped up, hurtling the fence and landing on ehr feet on the other side. Faith followed, somewhat less gracefully. Kim went next. Her legs weren't quite as strong as her sisters, so, as she reached the top of the gate, the grabbed it with her hands and flipped over the gate, then coming down onto her feet between her sisters.

"Show off," muttered Faith affectionately. The three sisters giggled and continued on their way.

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As the girls were encountering Principal Flutie, Xander and Trini were walking towards their next class, Willow and Billy having already broken off to head to a computer lab. They were having a rather...disturbing discussion about the sorts of things they should be looking for.

Trini smiled inwardly. She and Billy had been friends with Xander, Willow and Jesse for a long time, they'd all known each other since kindergarten. They were aqll five friends, but Xander, Willow and Jesse were BEST friends. Sometimes, Trini was a little jealous of that.

"Murder, death, disaster," said Trini, listing off things to look for. "What else?"

Xander looked thoughtful. "Paranormal," added Xander. "unexplained. Did you get natural disasters?"

"Earthquake," listed Trini. "Flood."

"Rain of toads."

"Right."

Xander shook his head. "Rain of toads," he said. "Do you think there'll be anything about that in the papers?"

"After class I'll mention it to Willow or Billy to put in the computer search," she said. If it's in there it'll turn up. Anything that'll lead us to the vampires."

"And I," said Xander, frowning in self disgust. "will stand around like an idiot doing nothing!"

Trini put a hand on his shoulder. Xander was by no means stupid, but, he wasn't as good at this sort of thing as Willow or Billy, or herself for that matter. "Not like an idiot," she said forcefully. "Never like an idiot. Just...standing. Buffy and the girls don't want you getting hurt." They stopped outside their classroom. "Neither does Willow. Neither do I, dummy."

Xander sighed. "This is just too much," he said. "I mean, yesterday my life was, like, "uh oh! Pop Quiz!" Today it's rain of toads."

"Yeah," said Trini a bit wistfully. "And everybody else thinks it's a normal day."

"It's like we have this big secret," added Xander.

Trini chuckled a little. "Well, we DO," she pointed out. "That's what a secret is. When you know something the other guy doesn't."

Xander nodded thoughtfully. "Right," he said. He indicated the door. "You should probably get to class."

Trini knew that look. Something was percolating in Xanders head. "We," she corrected. "WE should get to class."

"Yeah," said Xander, unconvincingly.

"Xander," said Trini. "They'll be ok. Whatever's down there, Buffy, Faith and Kim can handle it." She looked into Xander's eyes, seeing her own doubts reflected in there.

"Yeah," said Xander. "Me too."

They exchanged a look, a sort of silent communication and nodded.

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Upon arriving at the cemetery, the sisters easily found the mausoleum. They entered the dark place and found the iron door across from the entrance. They tried it, but it was locked. Faith felt a lurking presence behind them. Buffy obviously felt it too because she rolled her eyes and asked, "I don't suppose you brought a key, did you?" All three turned around. Faith's stomach fluttered as she saw the latina girl from outside the Bronze the night before.

She stepped out of the shadows, a half smile on her face. "They, really don't like me dropping in," she told the girls.

"And why is that?" asked Buffy.

Her smile grew a little bigger. "The really don't like me," she said, perhaps a bit cockily.

"Gee," said Kim, sarcastically. "HOW can that possibly be?"

She smirked. "I know, right?", she said. She addressed all three of them, but her eyes never left Faith's. Faith thought she hadbeautiful eyes. They were even darker than Faith's own. "I knew you'd figure this entry out sooner or later,"s he said, still looking amused. "Though actually, I thought it was gonna be a little sooner."

All three rolled their eyes. "SO sorry you had to wait," said Buffy, not sounding at all sorry. "Look, if you're gonna be popping up with the cryptic wise woman act on a regular basis, can you at least tell us your name?"

She looked at them, seemed to think it over and said "Santana."

Faith smiled. "Santana," she repeated. "I like that. It's exotic."

Faith saw Buffy and Kim roll their eyes as she and Santana exchanged a flirty grin. Then Santana turned all serious."Don't go down there," she said.

"Deal with our going," said Buffy. Kim nodded wholeheartedly and Faith kind of shrugged and nodded.

Santana looked exasperated. "Look, I don't think you guys get the big picture here," she said. "you shouldn't be putting yourself at risk. Tonight is The Harvest. If you guys can't stop it, then the Master walks free."

"Look,' said Kim. "if this Harvest thing is such a suckfest, why don't YOU stop it?"

Santana rolled her eyes. "I'm not a Slayer like you guys," she said. "This is too big for me.

Faith gave her a long look. such an open admission was the last thing she expected. , Then, as one, the sisters turned and kicked the iron door open.

"They'll be waiting for you," Santana warned.

Faith looked at her with haunted eyes. "We have a friend down there," she said. "Or a potential friend. We can't leave him down there. You DO know what it's like to have friends, right?" She'd meant it as a joke, but the look on Santana's face left her thinking she'd hit entirely too close to home. "that wasn't supposed to be a stumper," she added quietly.

Santana gave her a small smile, then nodded.. "When you hit the tunnels, head east. Towards the school. That's where you're likely to find them," she said.

The girls nodded and started through the doorway. Faith turned back to Santana. "You gonna wish us luck?" she asked. When Santana said nothing, she just shook her head and followed the others into the darkness.

Thanks to her Slayer hearing, Faith heard Santana mutter "Good luck," as Faith and her sisters disappeared from sight.

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By the time the three girls had reached the tunnels, their eyes had adjusted to the darkness. The climbed down a ladder and looked around, taking the tunnel's in. They were very dark and forbidding, and went on in all directions. They started down the tunnel going east as Santana suggested.

Kim jumped a bit as a rat went scurrying by them. Neither Buffy nor Faith even noticed it. As they walked down the tunnel, they heard a noise behind them.

"Did you see anything?" came a voice, making them all jump. Buffy whipped out her stake and...

"Xander!" said Kim seeing the boy standing there with someone else. "Trini! What are you two doing here?"

"Something stupid," said Xander.

" We followed you." said Trini.

"We understand," said Buffy. "Now, go away!"

"We can't just sit around and do nothing," Trini said

"Well, you're gonna HAVE to," said Faith ,exasperatedly.

"Look, Jesse's my bud, ok?,said Xander. "if I can help him, then that's what I have to do. Besides, it's this or chem class." Trini nodded.

Faith regarded him for a long moment, then nodded. She understood. Jesse and Billy were the first friends she'd made and she'd be doing the same thing in Xander or Trini's shoes.

"Faith, you can't be serious," said Buffy, shaking her head. "We can;t take them with us."

"They need to do this, B," said Faith, using the nickname only she ever used for Buffy. "Plus, we don't have time to try to force them to leave. So, I'm pulling Big Sister rank and saying, they're coming."

"Two minutes!" muttered Buffy. "You're two minutes older than ME. And I'M the Chosen One. How do YOU pull rank?" Faith and Kim exchanged amused glances as Buffy started off without another word.

Kim and Xander exchanged a smile as the five of them headed off down the tunnel, stopping at the end to listen. They headed down another tunnel, continuing east. Kim was impressed with both Xander and Trini's bravery and loyalty. She looked at Xander thoughtfully. She'd never dated a boy like him, but, he WAS cute, in his awkward geekiness.

"Ok," said Xander after they'd walked a few. "So, crosses, garlic, stake through the heart?"

"That'll get it done," said Buffy nodding.

"Might be nice if we'd thought to BRING any of those things," said Trini.

Faith hook her head and handed a spare stake to Trini as Kim did the same for Xander. Nice planning," she said as both nodded their thanks.

"Well, the part of my brain that would normally tell me to bring stuff is STILL busy telling me not to come down here," said Xander defensively."I do have this though." He produced a flashlight and turned it on.

"Turn that off, "hissed Buffy as Xander scrambled to do as he was told. "You want to let every vampire in Sunny D know we're here?"

"Ok, ok," said Xander. "So what else, for the slayage."

"Sunlight, holy water, fire, beheading...the usual," said Kim.

"I take it you've done some beheadings?" asked Xander

"I have,"said Buffy. "There was this one time, I was pinned down by this vamp who played varsity tackle, well ,before being turned, anyway, he had one of those really thick necks, and all I had was this little x-acto knife, so I..."

"Buffy," said Faith, chuckling. "I don't think they're loving the story."

Xander shuddered a bit. "Actually, I find it oddly comforting," he said.

"You're weird, Harris," said Trini, shaking her head.

The five walked along in silence for a bit, each lost in their own thoughts.

"They're close," announced Buffy. Her sisters nodded.

"How can you tell?" asked Xander.

"No more rats," pointed out Kim.

Xander shook his head. "I never thought "no rats" would constitute BAD news."

"Over there," said Buffy . "What's that?" She got a funny look on her face as she indicated a small side chamber. Nothing was visible for the first few inches, so Xander shined his flashlight inside, briefly. The beam of light found a body, lying face down on the floor.

"Jesse," said Xander, as he and Faith both knelt down by him. Xander took Jesse by the shoulder only to barely dodge a punch as Jesse shot up swinging.

"Get off me you...Xander?" said Jesse. "Faith?"

"Jesse, you ok?" asked Faith, helping him stand.

"Man, I am not ok on an epic scale," said Jesse, seeming to barely keep himself coherent. "We gotta get out of here, like NOW!"

"It's ok," said Xander. "Kim, Buffy and Faith are, like, super heroes." Trini nodded.

Jesse, nodded, then put a hand on Buffy's arm as they all turned back. "Wait," he said. "I know a faster way!" They all started down the direction Jesse indicated. Kim shook her head. She didn't have Buffy's "Slayer dreams" but, she'd developed a sixth sense since their shared calling, and something felt wrong, but, she couldn't put her finger on it.

Suddenly, she and both her sisters looked up. They heard something from the direction they were going in.

"Are you SURE this is a faster way?" Kim asked.

Suddenly, a form shot out from behind them and knocked Jesse to the ground. "Get away from him!" shouted a voice. They all looked to see...

Santana!

"What the hell?" asked Buffy, but then she looked at Jesse.

His face had morphed into full vamp mode. "Kill joy!" he snarled at her, though he stood back, clearly respecting the odds.

"Jesse," Xander practically whimpered. Kim reached over and squeezed his hand as Trini looked like she wanted to cry.

"Not that I'm not glad to see you," Faith said to Santana. "But what are you doing here?"

"I saw Nick and Nora here enter the mausoleum," said Santana. "I followed to keep them out of trouble."

"Oh, I think you're ALL in trouble," said Jesse with a smirk. They all looked up to see shadows coming from down the direction Jesse had tried to lead them.

Santana looked down the corridor. "Run," she said.

"Yeah," said Buffy. "I think you're right!"

The Summers took off down from the way they came, propelling Xander, Trini and Santana along ahead of them. Unfortunately, the others couldn't run as fast as they could and they heard the vampire hoard behind them getting closer and closer. Suddenly, the vampires were upon them.

Buffy reacted first, spinning around and staking a skinny male vamp with long, greasy hair. She kicked another as Faith punched one in the jaw, knocking him back into a couple of others. Kim kicked on in the midsection, knocking him back. Santana produced, of all things, a rapier as if from nowhere and slashed, using it to keep some of the vamps at bay. Trini stepped in front of Xander and threw a series of punches and kicks at one of the vampires. Though he was stronger and faster than Trini, she managed to land a couple. Xander stood up next to her and threw his own punches, though, he had no training in fighting.

The only thing working in our heroes favor was that there was only room for so many vampires to face them at once. The bad news was, even though Buffy Faith and Kim were Slayers, there were at least three vamps for every vamp they staked. As one, they surged forward, a flurry of punches, kicks, and sword strikes. Santana managed to behead a vamp, even though a rapier was not ideal for this purpose, making him. explode into dust. Faith unloaded on a vampire, punching him repeatedly in the face, stunning him. She wasted no time in staking him, instead turning to the next. Trini knelt down and staked the one Faith had just stunned.

Kim and Buffy each kicked a vampire, making them go up back to back against each other, then staked them in unison. Xander staked another vampire that Faith had stunned as Santana beheaded another. Working together, the six of them managed to create a samll hole for themselves.

"RUN!" ordered Buffy as they all six again took off down the directing the girls and Xander had come from. The vampires were hot on their heels but, they just managed to stay ahead of them. Finally, they reached the stairs and climbed them swiftly, wasting no time exiting the mausoleum and heading out into the daylight, one vampire not paying attention and following them. He screamed as he started to smoke, and Faith grabbed him and slammed him into the ground.

"Fry you mother fucker!" she snarled as he he burst into flames.

As they all caught their breath, Kim noticed, Santana was not with them. "Oh, God," she said. "Santana must have gotten separated from us in the chaos!"

Faith turned and started towards the mausoleum, but Buffy stopped her. "Faith," she said. "You can't go back in there!"

Faith looked like she wanted to deck her sister, but stopped and nodded. "You're right," she said. She seemed to search inside herself. "And I don't know why, but, I have this feeling that she's ok!"

They all looked at each other, hoping Faith was right.

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As they chased the slayer (SlayerS?) down the tunnels, Darla noticed one of them turn down another tunnel as the others climbed the stairs. She got a good look at the girls face right before she disappeared.

"Well, I'll be damned," she muttered.

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Giles sat alone in the library, pouring through his dusty old tomes, looking for mention of this Harvest. He found something likely.

"For they shall gather," he read aloud to himself. "and be gathered. All that is theirs, shall be his. From the Vessel pours life." He paused a moment to ponder that. "Pours life." He thought for a moment then turned the page, to see an engraving. In the engraving, a bestial fellow was holding his hand out, commanding a throng of villagers, all of whom were bleeding. Below, in a hellish landscape, a demon was glowing with power. On the bestial ones forehead there was a crude symbol. A star with three points. Giles continued to read.

"On the night of the crescent moon, the first past the solstice, it will come," He stopped and looked up. "Tonight!" He heard the library door open and looked over. "Buffy?" he called hopefully.

"Sorry, it's just us," said Willow, shaking her head as she and Billy entered.

"So, no word?" asked Billy, concerned.

Giles sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Not as yet," he said tiredly.

"Well, said Willow hopefully. "I'm sure they're just great."

Giles nodded. "Did you find anything of interest?" he asked.

Willow and Billy spread some computer printouts onto Giles' desk. "I think maybe," Willow said. "I looked through some old newspapers, around the time of that big earthquake back in '37. And for several months before that, there was a rash of murders."

"Great!" Giles exclaimed excitedly, then looked a little chagrained. "I...I mean not great in a GOOD way...Go on."

Billy flipped through the printed articles. "They appear to be the kind you were looking for. Throats, blood, months, and not even a clue."

Giles looked at the articles Willow was showing him and shook his head. "it's all coming together. And I rather wish it weren't!"

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In the sunken church, the Master stood at his alter, watching as Darla and Sheila lit a series of candles along each wall leading up to the alter. He listened halfheartedly to the chanting of his minions. He was fuming. All the work baiting the trap, and those thrice damned girls had gotten away! If Darla was not his favorite, she would still be suffering for failing him. He was now more convinced than ever that at least one of the girls was a Slayer, though what was the story with the other two?

 _Ah well_ , he thought. _I'm glad they are so strong. It will be nice having someone WORTH killing when I rise._ He turned his attention back to the ritual.

Luke stepped forward, removing his shirt, and walked towards the Master and kneeling at his feet. The Master held his hand forward, and Luke reverently kissed it. The Master turned his hand with his open palm up so Luke could kiss that was well. Then, Luke gently took the Masters wrist in his hand, pressed his lips to it...

And bit into it. The Master winced and closed his eyes. Luke fed for a moment, then reared his head back with unholy pain.

"My blood runs with yours," intoned the Master. "My soul is your province."

"My body is your instrument," said Luke.

The Master dipped his finger tip in the blood flowing from his wrist, and used it to paint the three pointed star on Luke's forehead. When he was done, he turned to face the assembled and spoke:

"On this most hallowed night,we are one. Luke is the vessel. Every soul he takes shall feed me. Their souls will grant me the power to free myself. Tonight I will walk the Earth... and the stars themselves will hide."

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A/N: Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Let me know what you thought. As I've mentioned, this is a Buffy/Power Rangers crossover. (I AM using Santana from Glee, but, there is a strong chance she is the only Glee element I will be using.) So, we've seen Kim, Billy and Trini, and I sort of have an interesting plan for Tommy, and we may see other Power Rangers characters. Anyway, I'd like some feedback on something. I have some pairings in mind, one of which is probably obvious, another sort of hinted now, pairing's wise, I'm thinking

Faith/Santana

Kimberly/Xander

and

Buffy/Tommy.

I was just wondering if anybody had any thoughts on these. Not saying I'm going to change them if you don't like them, I'd just like to know what you all think. Drop me a review or a PM. Thanks.


	7. Chapter 6 The Harvest Pt 3

**Chapter Six The Harvest Pt 3**

Looking somewhat worse for wear, the group walked into the library a short time later. Faith sort of stood back from the others quietly. As well as still smarting over finding Jesse was a vampire, she was worried about Santana, despite her feeling the girl was ok. HOW had they gotten separated? She was SURE Santana had been right next to her!

Willow and Billy stood. "Did you find Jesse?" Billy asked.

Kim stared at the ground, not even looking at them. "Yeah," she said, tersely. "We found him.

Willow winced at her reaction. "W-was he dead?" she asked.

"Worse," answered Trini, softly. She saw the stricken look on Billy's face and went over to stand by him, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Willow, Billy," said Buffy sadly. "We were too late. And they were waiting for us."

Willow shook her head. "At least you guys are ok," she said, sadly.

Xander chose that moment to savagely kick a trash can across the room in frustration. "I don't like vampires," he announced. "I'm gonna to take a stand and say, they're not good!" Kim walked over to him, much as Trini had with Billy. Xander almost shook her off, but settled a bit at her touch. Faith smiled at the calming effect the youngest Summers triplet had on him.

"I concur," said Billy softly.

"So, Giles," said Buffy. " do you have anything that could possibly make this day any worse?"

Giles, looking like he was remembering something, turned grave. "How about the end of the world?" he asked.

"I knew we could count on you,"said Kim , ironically.

"This is what we know," said Giles going into full lecture mode. "some sixty years ago, a very old, very powerful vampire came to this shore. And not just to feed."

"He came because this town is a mystical whosit?" Buffy concluded, as they sat down.

"Yes,"said Giles. "The Spanish who first settled here called it Boca Del Infierno, roughly translated to The Hellmouth. A sort of portal, from this reality to the next. The vampire hoped to open it."

"And bring the demons back ," piped in Faith, speaking for the first time.

"The end of the world,"said Xander.

"But he blew it," Willow picked up the story. "Or, I mean, there was an earthquake that swallowed about half the town. And him too."

"Well, that's what we think happened," Billy put in. At least, there were no more vampire type killings afterward."

Giles pulled up a chair, a thoughtful look on his face. "Opening dimensional portals is a tricky buisness," he said. "Odds are, he got himself stuck, like a cork in a bottle."

"And this Harvest thing is to get him out?" Trini asked.

"It comes once every century," said Giles. "On this night. A Master can draw on the power from one of its minions as it feeds. Enough power to break free and open the portal. The minion is called the Vessel, and he bears this symbol." He pointed d to a sketch of the three pointed star.

"So," said Buffy, making an attempt at cheerfulness. "We just dust anybody sporting this look, and no Harvest."

Giles blinked and nodded. "Simply put, yes," he confirmed.

Faith's dander was up. She knew they had to save the world, but, the loss of Jesse made this personal as well. "Any clue where this little get together is being held?" she asked dangerously.

"Well, there are any number of possibilities..." began Giles.

Xander looked up. "They're going to the Bronze."

"Are you sure?" asked Willow.

"Come on, it makes perfect sense," said Xander. "Tasty young morsels all over the place. Besides, that's where Jesse's gonna be. Trust me."

"I think that's a logical assumption," said Billy. The others nodded.

"Then we need to get there,"said Giles, sounding tense. "The sun will be down before long."

"Then we better get this show on the road," said Faith as the eight of them stood and, as one, turned and left the library.

Faith, Buffy and Kim all exchanged a look. "We gotta make a stop first, though," said Buffy. "Won't take long."

"What for?" asked Giles.

"Supplies," said all three Summers girls together.

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Buffy and her sisters quietly entered their house and went up to their bedroom. They had to hurry. Dusk was already approaching. They went into their room and immediately to the closet.

"Mom's looking for you guys," came a voice from behind them. They all turned to see Dawn standing in the doorway. "She got a call from your principal today."

"Thanks for the warning, Dawnie," said Faith giving her sister a smile just as they heard their Mom's voice call "Faith? Buffy? Kimberly?" They pretended not to hear her and continued rooting through their closet as Joyce entered their room.

"Are you three going out?" Joyce asked, in that challenging way only a mother could speak.

"We have to," answered Buffy simply.

"I didn't hear you come in last night," said Joyce. Dawn didn't move, showing some solidarity for her sisters.

"We were quiet," answered Faith. Kim tried to stay quiet. She was the worst liar of the three of them.

Joyce paused for a moment. "it's happening again, isn't it?" she finally said, a tired tone in her voice.

The girls stopped what they were doing and looked at her.

"I got a call from your new principal today," said Joyce, now definitely not pleased. "He said that not one, not two, but all three of you missed some classes today."

"We were ...running an errand," said Buffy, lamely. Faith and Kim rolled their eyes as Faith pulled an old trunk out of the closet.

"We haven't even finished unpacking," said Joyce worried. "it's only your second day and I'm already getting calls. And you're dragging Kim into it this time!"

"Mom," said Kim in her sisters defense. "I may not have burned down the gym, but, I was involved in a lot of what happened in LA too. You keep just blaming Buffy and Faith!"

"Don't take that tone with me, young lady," said Joyce, warningly.

Buffy glanced out the window at the darkening sky and exchanged a look with Faith and Kim. She looked back to their mother, a note of desperation in her voice. "Mom, I promise, it's not gonna be like it was before, but, we HAVE to go."

"No," said Joyce, simply.

"Wait, what?' said Buffy, confused. Both Faith and Kim, and even Dawn had the same look on their of them could remember the last time Joyce had simply said "No".

Joyce, perhaps a touch awkwardly, stood her ground. "I said "no" girls,"she said, setting her jaw. "The tapes all say I should get used to saying it.

No."

"Mom," pleaded Kim, trying to keep the whine out of her voice. "This is really really important."

"I know," said Joyce with a wave of her hand. " You have to go or it'l lbe the end of the world. I was a sixteen year old girl once. Everything is life or death."

Faith sighed. "Mom, we really don't have time to talk about this," she said.

"You three have all the time in the world," said Joyce, shaking her head sadly. "You're not going anywhere. You can stay up here and sulk if you want to, but I'm going downstairs to make dinner. If you want to come down and eat with us, Dawn and I would love to have you." She left the room and closed the door, quietly but firmly behind her.

Dawn gave her sisters a look once she was sure their Mom was out of earshot. "You're still going, aren't you?" she asked.

Buffy and Kim looked at Faith, who always had the best rapport with Dawn. She stepped forward and ran her fingers through Dawn's hair affectionately. "Dawnie, We HAVE to,"she said. She looked into her baby sisters eyes. Giles had said this Harvest shindig was a huge deal, end of the world huge, and all three girls knew, they had to stop it, for Dawn and their Mother most of all.

Dawn looked at her and nodded. "I'll try to keep Mom distracted," she said. Then she looked back and forth between the three of them. "But one of these days you're going to explain to me what all this is about."

"I promise," said Faith. "Now go before Mom decides to come up and make dinner mandatory." She kissed Dawn on the forehead then turned her to face the door and gave her bottom a light smack to get her moving. Buffy almost laughed at the glare Dawn gave Faith , but for once their baby sister did not start complaining to their mother. She just looked at them, smiled softly, and left.

After Dawn left, Buffy rooted through the trunk, removing a number of the usual teenage girl items. She then removed a false bottom and loaded down a bag with crosses, holy water, and stakes. Finally, almost reverently, each of them removed a particularly nasty looking stake and slid it either up the sleeve of their r jackets or into the waistband of their pants. . These had been their first stakes, given to them by their first Watcher, Merrick. Buyffy's eyes misted over as she briefly replayed the mans death in her mind. She angrily wiped them, seeing both of her sisters doing the same and headed over to the window, crawling out, hoping their chatterbox of a sister could keep their Mom occupied until they either saved the world, or it ended.

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At the Bronze, looking downright amazing in a black mini dress if she did say so herself, Cordelia held court over her little band or Cordette's. She liked some of them ,but some were just pathetic little followers.

"Senior boys are the only way to go,"she said as though imparting the wisdom of Solomon. "they're just a better class of person. The boys in our grade? Forget about it. They're children. Like Jesse...did you see him last night? The way he follows me around. He's like a puppy dog. You just want to put him to sleep. Senior boys have mystery. They have...what's the word I', looking for? Cars."

One of the girls, Cindy, started to say something, but Cordelia plowed on. "I'm just not the type to settle," she said. "Like when I go into a store, I have to get the most expensive thing. Not because it's expensive, but because it costs more." Cindy started to speak again but Cordelia cut her off. "Excuse me, Miss Motormouth. Can I get in a word edgewise here?" She stopped as the DJ started a new song. "Oh! I love this song!" Without a word, she headed out to the dance floor, knowing her loyal subjects would follow.

It was good to be the queen.

As Cordy and her group danced, Jesse entered the Bronze. People who knew him were surprised as he walked in. He looked and dressed the same, but gone was the awkward, kinda endearingly goofy boy they knew. He now moved with an easy confidence and a sort of predatory grace. He looked around and found what he was looking for.

Cordelia looked up as Jesse approached. Not quite walking up to her, more moving around her, his eyes never leaving her. Cordy saw the same change everybody else had in Jesse, and for the first time in her life, did not look away in disgust.

The music changed to a slow song and she and her friends stopped dancing and went to go back to their own table. Cordelia found her way blocked by Jesse, who was smiling a distant smile. "What do you want?" she asked, her tone holding every bit of her trademark bitchiness, but, inside, not feeling nearly as confident as she acted.

Jesse took her hand and started leading her to the dance floor. "Hey!" exclaimed Cordelia indignantly. "Hello, caveman brain! What do you think you're doing."

Her tummy did a flip as Jesse just gave her a winning smile and quietly said "Shut up." He led her to the middle of the dance floor and started dancing with her, holding her, but barely touching her.

"Ok," Cordelia said breathlessly, trying to make it look like she was granting him a huge boon. "One dance." She moved closer as Jesse smirked.

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Luke, Darla , Sheila, and ten other vampires walked purposefully up to the entrance of the Bronze. It was funny in a way. The blood Luke was planning to drain from his victims was supposed to energize the Master so he could escape his prison, but, after drinking the Master's blood, Luke himself felt energized. He truly saw no way the Master would not be freed tonight.

The bouncer looked up at them. "I need to see some ID," he said. They ignored him and started to walk past him. "Hey! Nobody gets inside until I see some..."

Luke turned and stood over the man, his face mere inches from the bouncers. "Get inside," he ordered quietly. The bouncer gulped and complied.

Once inside, the vampires spread out, two staying to watch the main entrance, others going to cover all the other exits. One slid over the bar and covered the door behind it, another going upstairs.

Darla went over by the stage to the backstage entrance. She went in and made sure the back door was secure, then went over to the fuse box and flipped a switch.

People gasped and murmured as the main lights and the music cut off. A shadowy figure stepped onto the stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen," said Luke, stepping into the lone spotlight, in full vamp face, the spotlight making it look evem scarier. "There is no cause for alarm." He paused and smiled evilly. "Actually, there's plenty of cause for alarm. It just won't do you any good."

Cordelia looked up at the stage from where she and Jesse stood. "What is this, some new grunge band? I didn't think there WAS a band tonight," she asked then looked at Jesse, who had also put on his vamp face. She gasped and tried to pull away, but he was too strong and pulled her into the darkness under the stairs.

Darla came out and joined Sheila, looking up at the stage, as Luke stood there, rather dramatically she thought, with his arms spread wide.

"Tonight is a glorious night!" he announced to the scared mass of people. "Though, it is the last night any of you will ever see. Bring me the first!"

One of the minions pushed the bouncer onto the stage. The large man was scared and babbling. "What do you guys want?" he asked. "You want money? Man, what's wrong with your faces?"

Luke grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and squeezed, effectively cutting off any further conversation from him. "Watch me people," he ordered the crowd. He looked into the bouncers eyes. "Their fear is an elixir. It's almost as good as blood!" With that he pulled the man closer and buried his fangs into the mans neck, drinking his blood in huge gulps.

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Across town, in the sunken church, the Master threw back his head, his whole body lighting up as energy coursed through him. "Yes," he whispered. "Yes. Soon."

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Luke finished draining the bouncer and tossed him aside. "Next," he called out.

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Santana watched from the shadows as an impatient group waited outside the Bronze for the Slayers. She, too, had figured out the harvest must be going down here, and while she had been telling the truth when she told the Slayers this was too big for her, at least too big for her to stop alone, she'ddecided she COULD be of help. The dark haired boy, Xander, was just looking at his watch as the Slayers came running up. Buffy said a quick "sorry" and they all went to open the front door to the Bronze.

"It's locked," announced Buffy as she tried the door.

"We're too late," said Giles, almost scoldingly.

"Well, we didn't know we were gonna get grounded!" Buffy protested defensively. Everybody around her just rolled their eyes. Santana kinda smirked, wanting to make a quip about them getting spanked as well, but, she held it in. She walked up to the others.

"Santana!" said Faith, stepping up to her. "You're ok."

"Worried about me?" asked Santana, flirtingly. "That's sweet." Faith almost but didn't quite blush as her sisters rolled their eyes. "I know I said this was too big for me, but, I'm here to help."

"Who's this?" asked Giles, a touch suspiciously.

"She helped us when we tried to rescue Jesse," answered Kim. Faith did a quick introduction before Trini decided to get things back on track.

She indicated the door. "Can you break it down?" she asked.

Faith shook her head. shook her head. "Not this thing," she said."Not even working together. It's like a fucking bomb shelter!"

Buffy looked around. "You guys try around back. We'll find our own way." She indicated herself and her sisters.

"Right," said Giles. He turned to the other's. "Come on."

"Guys!" called Buffy. She handed Giles their bag of tricks. "You guys clear the exit and get people out. That's all."

"Don't go all wild bunch on us," Added Kim.

Faith turned to Santana. " You did pretty good down there," she said. We're counting on you to keep them safe." Santana nodded at her and they exchanged a smile.

"See you on the inside," Giles said to the girls as the six of them took off.

They got around to the back of the Bronze to find that door too was locked. "Now what?" asked an irritated Xander , throwing up his hands and pacing."We've got to get in there before Jesse does something stupider than usual!"

"Xander," Giles said in his almost scolding tone. " Jesse is dead. You have to remember that if you see him. You're not looking at yoru friend. You're looking at the thing that killed him." Xander glared at him but didn't say anything.

"What now?" asked Trini, also seeming frustrated.

Billy looked at the back door. "This door looks decidedly less sturdy than the one up front," he said. "Maybe we can batter it down."

"Everybody, look for something to use to break it down," ordered Giles and they all started looking.

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Inside, Luke finished draining his third victim, a young girl. He felt flush with power as he turned to face his hostages, all scared, some whimpreing, a few actually screamed.

Darla and Sheila both walked over and Darla took Cordelia's arm, having a brief tug of war with Jesse over the struggling girl.

"This one is mine," said Jesse, territorially.

"They're ALL for the Master," sneered Darla, pulling Cordelia way from him.

Jesse just looked confused. "I don't get one?" he asked nobody in particular.

"Not tonight," Sheila called back, following Darla and Cordelia to the stage.

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Buffy, Faith and Kim had found a fire escape up to the second floor, and were now slithering their way through an open window. They surveyed their surroundings to see the balcony They'd stood on the previous night, a vampire looking over the three girls walked up to the balcony, right up next to a totally oblivious vampire. They looked over to see Luke, standing on the stage. "I feel him rising,"Luke announced. "I need another!" They saw the three-pointed star painted in blood on his forehead and looked at each other.

"The Vessel," they all said.

The vampire heard them and turned. He smiled, thinking he'd found three new sacrifices for the Master.

Luke, meanwhile, was in his glory, burning with power and with the rush of knowing his Master would soon be free. "Tonight is his ascension!" he announced to people who had no clue what he was talking about. "Tonight will be History at it's end. Yours is a glorious sacrifice. Degradation most holy." He paused, and looked at the sheep before him. "What? No volunteers?"

Darla pulled Cordelia onto the stage. "Here's a pretty one," she said.

"Noooooo," whimpered Cordelia, still struggling. She started crying as Luke grabbed her. He was just about to bite her when he was distracted by the sounds of a scuffle from the , a vampire came sailing over the balcony and landed on his back in front of the stage, looking much the worse for wear. . The vampires all looked up at the balcony.

"Oh, sorry," said Kim sarcastically. "Did we break your concentration?"

Luke's eyes met Buffy's. "YOU!" he snarled.

"You didn't think we'd miss this, did you?" asked Faith, challengingly.

Luke smiled evilly. "Actually," he said. "I'd HOPED you'd come."

Buffy put her hands on the rail of the balcony and flipped herself backwards over it, landing on a pool table below. She then did a handsrping, grabbing a pool cue that was lying on the table, and landed on the floor holding the cue like a staff.

Kim followed suit, doing a mid air somersault and landed next to Buffy, sans pool cue, and whipped out her special stake.

Faith once again, rolled her eyes at her sisters theatrics and simply jumped over the rail, landing on her feet on the pool table, then jumped onto the floor next to Buffy and Kim, whipping out her own stake.

Meanwhile, out back, Giles had found an old pipe he had used to batter down the door. once it was open, Xander and Santana rushed inside, followed by Giles and Trini and finally, Willow and Billy.

Two vampires charged Buffy, Faith and Kim, one from each side. Never taking her eyes off Luke, Buffy flipped the pool cue and jammed the skinny end into the heart of one of them. She let go of the cue and both the vampire and it exploded into dust. Faith grabbed the other, punched him in the face a few times, then flipped him to the floor. Kim knelt and dusted him.

"I'll take Big Ugly," Buffy told her sisters. "You two keep the others off me." Both nodded as she walked towards Luke."Okay, vessel want blood?"

Luke shoved Cordelia aside. "I want YOURS!" he announced. "Only yours."

"Come and get it!" Buffy snarled as the two closed on each other.

Buffy ran towards the stage and leapt at Luke, slamming her fist into his face, knocking him back. He counter attacked but Buffy ducked his punch, and came back up with a roundhouse kick to his face. She whipped out her stake and stabbed at his chest, but he blocked and swung a vicious blow to her face, nailing her and knocking her down onto her butt, the force of the blow making her slide back into the corner. "Ok,' she said, a bit dazed. "OW!"

Faith and Kim stood side by side, their stakes at the ready. Most of the vampires didn't seem to realize that they were Slayers as well as Buffy. Three of them rushed at them. Kim met one with a roundhouse right that knocked him down, Faith punched another in the jaw with the fist that held her stake, sort of using the stake like a roll of quarters, knocking him down as well but the third barreled into Faith. The two struggled but Faith finally broke his grip. She threw a left, which the vamp blocked. It swung back at her m, but Faith ducked, then stood up quickly ramming her head into the vamps jaw. She felt rather than saw the second vamp get up, and greeted it's charge with a kick to the gut. She grabbed the first vamp by it's jacket and headbutted him, then kneed him in the groin and dusted him. She turned to face the other, only to receive a punch to the jaw.

Kim, meanwhile fought the other. He threw a punch, which Kim ducked, then followed with a kick to his stomach. She then kicked him in the jaw, snapping his head back, then finally punching him. Faith often teased Kim that she looked like Batgirl on the old 1960's Batman tv series, because Kim threw more kicks than punches.

Santana, Xander, and Trini were the first three to come from backstage and into the Bronze proper. They saw no vamps in the immediate vicinity, so Santana turned to the other two "Get the crowd out of here," she ordered, drawing her rapier. "I'll cover you. Xander and Trini nodded and started herding people out.

"Come on!" called Xander as he and Santana herded the panicked crowd towards the back exit. Giles, Willow and Billy had just come in, and were hurrying them along. Xander failed to see a vampire sneaking up on him from behind.

Santana faced a rather scruffy looking vampire and swung at him with her sword. He dodged backwards, then charged, trying to get around the sword. Santana was too fast for him though, and he wound up impaling himself. Of course, this didn't kill him, but, it made him double over and Santana brought the sword down, taking his head off, causing him to explode into dust.

Luke advanced on Buffy, smiling predatorially. She lashed out with both feet and kicked him in the chest, causing him to fly back and land hard. Buffy leapt to her feet and was about to go in for the kill when she saw the vamp grab Xander from behind. She turned to the drum kit and kicked the cymbal clean off it's perch. She caught the cymbal in mid air, then turned and hurled it frisbee style at the vampire who had Xander. It turned, hearing the noise. It's eyes went wide, just before the cymbal sliced neatly through his neck. Xander turned in time to see the head disintigrate in mid air. he turned to Buffy and smirked. "Heads up," he said.

Buffy started to laugh at her friends bad pun, but Luke had recovered. He reached out and grabbed her from behind, scooping her up into a crushing bear hug.

Faith was having trouble with the vampire she was facing. He was clearly a bit older and more experienced than the others. She hadn't taken too many punishing blows, but, hadn't really dealt any our either. The two traded blows, almost looking like they were dancing as each threw punches, then dodged and weaved. Sometimes, she REALLY wished she was as fast as her sisters. She threw a punch at his jaw that connected, actually knocking the vampire back, she grinned and pressed her attack, only to meet a spin kick that knocked HER back. Both paused for a moment, sizing each other up.

Xander was about to go help Buffy, but,he heard a shriek. He turned to see Jesse, single minded as always, dragging Cordelia back under the stairs. He threw Cordy to the ground and pinned her.

"Hold STILL," Jesse snarled exasperatedly at Cordelia. "You're NOT making this any easier!"

"I'm SO sorry!" Cordelia spat back at him, clawing at his face. She was scared but she was Queen C, dammit!

Xander started towards them, but, she was tackled from behind by another vampire. He looked up to see the brunette vampire who had lured Billy to the cemetery last night. Sheila!

"Well, I missed out on your friend, but, you'll do," she said, almost purring at him. Xander struggled and pulled out a cross, but she batted it away before he could bring it to bear. She punched him hard in the face, stunning him, then leaned in towards his neck. Xander yelled out as he felt her fangs sink into his neck and she started to drink.

Suddenly, she was knocked off of him. Xander looked up, stunned, to see the tiny form of Kimberly standing defensively over him.

"Stay away from him, you bitch!" she snarled, trying to sound tough.

Shelia just smirked. "Such a rude little girl," she said. "I need to teach you some manners!" She punched Kim, knocking her back. Xander tried to get up to help Kim, but even though he hadn't lost much blood, he was weak from the shock of the blood loss. Kim dodged another punch and kicked Sheila in the ribs, making her grunt.

Trini, meanwhile, had also heard Cordelia's scream. She looked and saw Buffy, her sisters, and Santana all engaged with opponents. That left her, so she went running over. Jesse was on top of Cordelia with his back to Trini. Trini had the perfect opportunity to stake Jesse from behind, but she couldn't. Despite Giles' warnings, she still looked at him and saw her friend. "Jesse," she said quietly. "please, don't make me do this." She held a stake in her right hand.

Jesse turned to look at Trini, and grinned inhumanly. "Trini..." he said.

Buffy struggled, but was unable to get out of Luke's grasp. Sensing victory, he started to squeeze harder.

"I've always wanted to kill a Slayer!" he snarled triumphantly. It had been a source of shame to him that he had never killed one, while that pissant Spike had killed two! He squeezed even harder, and Buffy felt her ribs starting to crack.

Santana dispatched her opponent, then looked up to see Buffy's predicament. She started to head towards Buffy and Luke, but, suddenly, her rapier was ripepd out of her hand. She spun around and turned to see a blonde vampire standing before her.

Darla, looking as beautiful as the day Santana had met her, giving her that sexy smirk. The clothes and hair had changed, but, it was still Darla.

"Santana," Darla said huskily. "I thought that was you with the Brat Pack in the tunnels."

"Darla," said Santana with a smirk of her own, once she was over the initial shock of seeing her. "And sporting the Catholic schoolgirl look. Back to your old tricks? What happened? Angelus finally grow tired of you?"

Darla snarled at her. "Hardly," she growled. "We sometimes split up. Dru had it in her mad little head to go to Prague, William naturally followed like a puppy. It sounded dreadfully boring to me, so, I came to visit The Master."

"And he and Angelus were never on the best of terms, so Angelus went with Dru and Spike," reasoned Santana. "Well, that makes it easier for me. I only have YOU to deal with."

"Please," said Darla, rolling her eyes. "You little friends have thrown a bit of a snag in things, but, Luke is about to deal with the blonde, then the Harvest will continue and the Master will walk free." She looked at Santana. "You never were worth much as a vampire, but, come back to us. I'm sure we can even solve your little problem."

From Angelus, Spike or Drusilla, this offer would have met with immediate refusal, but, she and Darla had always had a soft spot for each other, so it was , Darla was right, Santana hadn't been much of a vampire before, and , now, well, there was no way she could accept the offer to return. "Sorry," she said. I truly am." And she punched Darla in the jaw, knocking her back and sending Santana's sword to the floor.

"So be it," snarled Darla, and she attacked.

People were still rushing to the rear entrance, making a bit of a bottle neck. Giles turned to Willow and Billy. "Come on," he said. "We need to get the front doors open as well!" The three started to the front, but a vampire pounced on them, knocking all three to the floor. Giles and Billy tried to fight, but they were no match for the vampire. He knocked Billy to the floor, dazed, then grabbed hold of Giles, his fangs ready to rip out Giles' throat.

Trini took a step back as Jesse rose to face her. "Jesse," she said imploringly. "I know there's still a part of you in there somewhere."

Jesse gave her an exasperated look. "Ok, let's deal with this," he said. "Jesse was an excruciating loser who couldn't get a date with anyone in the sighted community! Honestly, would YOU even have dated him? But look at me now! I'm a new man!" He grabbed Trini by the front of her shirt and pulled her close, a backhanded fist splitting Trini's lip, but his grip on her keeping her from flying back. "Now SEE," he said. "The OLD Jesse would have reasoned with you!" he pulled Trini in, opening his mouth, preparing to bite.

He didn't see that Trini had not lost her grip on her stake. Nor did he know about the cross in her other hand, nor did he see Cordelia rise to her feet behind him.

Willow and Billy dug frantically through Buffy's bag, looking for something that might help her save Giles. Willow pulled out a jar of holy water, Billy grabbed a stake. "Get OFF him!" Willow yelled to the vampire, who had Giles pinned to the floor. He looked up at Willow only to be doused with holy water. He screamed and his hands went to her face, smoke coming from between his fingers. Giles managed to knock the vampire off of himself and Billy managed to kick him in the face, knocking him onto his back. Billy slammed his stake home, dusting the vampire. They both reached down and helped Giles to his feet,. Giles looked at both of them and gave them a shaky smile. "Nice moves,' he said, making them smile weakly. They both looked about to faint.

Xander watched as Kimberly fought Sheila. It might have been a touch arousing, if Sheila hadn't been in vamp face. neither girl was doing the usual "chick fight" thing. Both were throwing punches, kicks and blocks, almost looking like something out of a Jackie Chan movie. The fight seemed pretty even, Sheila was stronger, but Kim was faster, until another vampire, a male, started to sneak up behind Kim. Rising to his feet, still a little shaky, Xander called "Kim, look out!" and pulled a stake from his jacket. Kim instinctively, launched a kick which caught the vampire in the jaw, sending him to the floor. Luckily for Kim and Xander, the vampire's head broke through a chair, stunning him. Xander leaped on top of him and dusted him. He looked up to see Sheila had taken advantage of Kim's distraction to land a solid punch to her jaw. Kim reeled back and shook her head, but, ran forward, putting her hands on Sheila's shoulders and flipped over her, landing behind and kicking her in the spine, sending Sheila face first into a wall. As Sheila turned and snarled, and Kim looked defiant, Xander wanted to help out, but, knew he'd only be in the way.

Santana and Darla continued to trade blows. They were away from the rest of the action, so, nobody saw Santana standing up to Darla in an even fight. Both were about equally strong and fast, and though Darla was much older and more experienced, Santana had spent the last hundred years or so hunting other vampires. They both fought, neither able to really get the upper hand.

Faith, meanwhile, had finally gotten the upper hand on her vampire. She'd hit him with, well, a table, stunning him, and was pressing her attack. She looked over to see Kim, pressing her own attack against Sheila. Both looked up to see Buffy's fight with Luke, and knew they needed to help their sister. Both seemed to get a burst of energy, and started totally unloading on their foes. Each throwing a series of punches and kicks that stunned the vampires, driving them towards each other. Finally, Sheila and the other vampire were back to back and, as one Faith and Kim slammed their stakes home, dusting them. They did a high five as Xander walked up to them.

"Synchronized slaying," he mused with a grin. "New Olympic event?"

The sisters both rolle their eyes and laughed at him, then turned to the stage.

Buffy went limp in Luke's grasp, her head dangling forward. Luke snarled and leaned in closer. "Master," he called out. "Taste of this and be free!"

Just as he was about to sink his fangs into her throat, Buffy threw her head back and head butted him in the face, causing him to let go and reel back.

"How'd it taste?" she asked. But, despite her bravado she was weak. The fight was taking a lot out of her. She grabbed up the cymbal stand, holding it like a weapon, looking around. She noticed the window at the back of the stage, painted black, one big pane. She looked between it and Luke.

Jesse leered at Trini. "I WAS just gonna turn Cordelia," he told the asian girl. "But you're cute too. I think I'll turn both of you, then you'll both be mine for ever." Trini found herself horrified by the lustful look on Jesse's face. She locked eyes with Cordelia who had an "Ew" face going. Cordelia nodded at Trini, the two seeming to work out a plan without even speaking. As Jesse started to bite Trini, she took her cross and pushed it against Jesse's eye, smelling burning flesh as it hissed. Jesse screamed and let go of Trini, his hands going to his ruined eye. Trini threw everything she had into a punch that knocked Jesse back. She plunged the stake towards Jesse's heart. Cordelia, at the same moment, shoved Jesse from behind. Jesse came forward, Trini's stake came forward, and Jesse exploded into dust. Trini looked at the spot where Jesse had stood, stunned. Then she looked at Cordelia, who had seems to find something in herself at that moment, and the two exchanged a smile.

They had no time to celebrate though. Three vampires stood before them, each looking enraged and read to rip them apart because of how things did not seem to be going well for their side.

Luke advanced on Buffy, who swung the cymbal stand at him. "You forget," he said mockingly, "Metal can't kill me."

Buffy gave him a snarly smile. "You've forgotten something too," she said. Faith and Kim both approached the stage.

Luke paused, less confident now. What could he possibly have forgotten?

"Sunrise," said Buffy in answer to his unspoken question. With that, she hurled the cymbal stand with all her might, causing it to shatter the plate glass window behind Luke.

Warm light streamed in the window and washed over Luke. Faith and Kim both rolled their eyes as he screamed and raised his hands as if to ward it off. Then, nothing. No pain, no burning. Nothing. He stopped, puzzled, and Buffy, who had retrieved her stake, thrust it right through his heart.

"It's in about nine hours, moron," she quipped. Luke's last thought as he exploded to dust was "Streetlight!" Ok, that was his second to last thought. Just as he dusted, he looked at Buffy and her sisters and spat out "Bitches!"

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In the sunken church, the Master suddenly doubled over in pain, feeling the extra energy leave him, feeling his body stop glowing with power. He looked around confused. He reached out to the invisible wall that kept him trapped her and found it as strong as ever. "No," he said, almost pleadingly. he tried again. "NO!" he yelled this time. He looked around his prison. He'd failed. The Slayer had won! He threw his head back and unleashed a scream/bellow/roar with absolutely no humanity in it.

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"NO!" yelled Darla as Luke burst into ashes. Santana, distracted by this, turned to look. Darla, deciding the odds were against her, shoved Santana from behind, knocking her through a table, then quickly exited with some of the remaining crowd that was fleeing out the back door. Santana watched her go and sighed. "Next time,' she whispered.

Trini tried to sheild Cordelia from the three vampire but Cordelia wasn;t having any of that.. She stepped d right up next to Trini and took the cross out of her hand. the two exchanged a small smile and turned to face the vampires.

The three vampires started to advance, but, suddenly, Buffy, Faith, Kim, Xander and Santana stepped in front of Trini and Cordelia. The vampires looked at the determined faces for about 1/8 of a second, then turned and got the hell out of dodge. Buffy exchanged grins with both of her sisters and Santana . Giles, Willow and Billy came over and joined them. Everybody but the group of them had fled.

"I take it it's over," said Giles, taking in the carnage.

"Does that mean we won?" asked a still slightly dazed Willow.

"We definitely decimated the opposing forces," said Billy.

. "Well, we averted the apocalypse," Buffy said.

"You GOTTA give us points for that." added Faith. She exchanged small smiles with Santana.

"Ok, ok," said Cordelia. "Could somebody PLEASE tell me what the HELL just happened?"

Buffy, Faith, Kimberly Giles, and Santana all exchanged looks. Most people, when faced with a situation like tonight, could forget about it and go along with their lives, making up some excuse like street gangs or something. But, Cordelia had found something inside herself and actually helped Trini stake Jesse, then stood by her, ready to fight. They'd all thought she was just some shallow bitch queen (Well, Buffy and her sisters did. Giles didn't know her well, and Santana had no clue who she even was) but there was more to Cordelia Chase than met the eye.

Trini gave her a sympathetic smile. "I'll take you home, and explain on the way," she offered.

Kim, standing close to Xander, raised an eyebrow. Was Trini flirting with Cordy?

"One thing is for sure," said Xander. "Nothing is ever going to be the same!"

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The Master was still raging when Darla and what was left of his other minions returned. He'd taken one look at them and realized he'd lost Sheila as well as Luke. "One of you tell me how the FUCK this could have happened," he screamed.

Darla stepped forward. It made sense. She was higher in the order than the others, and, as his favorite, the one most likely to survive any punishment he decided to mete out. "Master," she said. "We were right about the other two girls. "I don't think they were as powerful as the Slayer, but, they were close. I got the idea, they were sisters, maybe that explains it somehow. And Master, there's something else."

Sisters? That COULD indeed explain it."WHAT is it?" he asked testily.

"I saw Santana tonight," Darla answered. "She was working with the Slayers."

It took a moment for the Master to place the name. Oh yes, the whelp Drusilla had spent so much time wailing about when she'd left them. He'd never met Santana, but, from what Darla and the others had told him, she was never much of a vampire. Still, she'd been around for over a hundred years, so, she was probably dangerous.

"Get word to the rest of the Whirlwind," he ordered Darla. "Get them here. If we have three Slayers, and a rogue vampire to deal with, we're going to need all of our finest warriors."

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 **Epilogue**

The next morning, things at Sunnydale high were exactly the same as always. Birds were singing, the sun was shining, and kids were talking and laughing and carrying on. The only thing different, was, Cordelia was not walking with her Cordettes, she was with Buffy and the others, sans Santana. They all looked over to see Cordelia's friend Harmony having the attention of the Cordettes.

"Well, I heard it was rival gangs,' she was saying. "And get this, those new girls, the Summers', totally knew these guys! Which is too weird. I can't really remember everything too well, but it was a total freak show!" the others nodded as they passed by the gang, giving Cordelia a strange look for being seen with them. She just glared right back at them, making all of them look away.

Xander watched the girls walk by with a look of total disbelief on his face.

Kim smirked at the boy as she stood next to him. "What were you expecting?" she asked

"I don't know," said Xander exasperatedly. "The dead rose!"

"We should have at least had an assembly," Cordelia threw in. Trini had indeed explained everything to her. It had all made sense to Cordelia, even Faith being a Slayer, but what she hadn't gotten was Buffy and Kim also being Slayers, and Buffy the Chosen One. They were so...tiny.

"The current state of near apathy is most puzzling," agreed Billy.

"He means it's weird," said Trini.

"People have a tendency to rationalize what they can and forget what they can't," said Giles, sagely.

"Believe me," said Faith. "I've seen it happen."

"Well," said Willow. "I'll never forget it. None of it." Xander, Cordelia, Billy and Trini all nodded in agreement.

"Good," said Giles nodding. "Next time you'll be prepared."

"Wait, what?" asked Cordelia.

"NEXT time?" added Xander.

"and next time is WHY?" asked Willow.

Giles chuckled. "We stopped the Master from freeing himself and opening the mouth of hell," he explained. "But that doesn't mean he'll stop trying."

"I'd say the fun is just beginning," said Billy.

"More vampires?" asked Willow, nervously.

"Not just vampires," said Giles, comforting nobody. "The next creature we face may be something quite different."

"I can hardly wait," said Buffy, sarcastically.

"We're at the center of a mystical convergence," explained Giles. "We may in fact stand between the earth and total destruction."

"But, no pressure," scoffed Faith.

"Thanks for the pep talk, coach," said Kim, shaking her head at Giles.

Xander turned to Buffy. "Buffy, this isn't good," he said.

Buffy exchanged a look with her sisters. " Well, we just gotta look on the bright side," she said. " Maybe we can still get kicked out of school." Faith and Kim laughed and all three smiled at Giles and started off, the other five keeping up with them.

"Now THERE'S a plan," said Faith.

"'Cause a lot of schools aren't on Hellmouths," added Xander.

"OH!" said Willow helpfully. Maybe you could blow something up!"

"Yeah," said Trini as she and Cordelia bumped shoulder, giggling. " They're really strict about that."

"I wouldn't like to see the school get blown up," said Billy, though, he was clearly joining in.

Kim laughed. "I think Buffy was thinking of a more subtle approach," she said. "Like excessive not studying."

"Been there, done that,' said Faith making her sisters roll their eyes.

Giles shook his head as they walked off. "The earth is doomed," he said softly before heading to the library.

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A/N: As I may have said before, it's kinda hard to make the events of Welcome to The Hellmouth and The Harvest different from how they played out on the show, even with a different or expanded cast. It's also hard to write a fight scene liek the one at the Bronze, with all those people Darla, Luke, Sheila and Jesse, plus 10 minions, there were a total of 14 vampires. I had a lot get dusted and while I haven't gone back and counted, I wouldn't be surprised if the ones dusted, plus Darla and the other three who survived, added up to more than fourteen. If that's the case, just please chalk it up to there being more vampires than just Jesse already at the Bronze. I hope the added dialogue and fight scenes helped it keep from being a carbon copy of The Harvest. Please, review and let me know what you think.


	8. NOT A NEW CHAPTER PLEASE DON'T BE MAD

Hello my readers,

I mentioned this in my profile, but, as not everybody reads profiles, I am doing a special non chapter in each of my stories so you know what is up.

I am not abandoning any of my stories, but, my personal life has gone a little crazy lately. I've always spent a lot of time taking care of my wife, who is disabled, and lately, her mother too. Things have been extra bad with my mother in law lately, and I've spent the last three weekends running errands for her. So, not only am I having little time for writing, but, often, when I do, I'm just too tired or brain fried to write.

And, if that weren't enough, my Dad has COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), basically, problems with his lungs. He's in the final stages of this disease, which means, there is no telling how much longer he has. He lives three hours away. As a result of this, I'll be visiting him on the weekends sometimes, and, as I have no laptop, I won't be able to write when I am up there. Weekends are my prime time for writing.

So, I repeat, I am not abandoning any of my stories. Nor am I putting any of them on hiatus. I'm still trying to write when I can, but, updates are likely to come a lot more slowly. I know there are people chomping at the bit to find out what happens next in some of them and I am truly sorry for this. Believe me, I don't like it any more than you do. I hope you know how much I truly do appreciate you all. I hope nobody gets bored and goes away because of this.

I hope life is treating you all well.

Bill, AKA DaBillmann.


	9. Chapter 7 Femme's Fatale Pt 1

**Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to my Dad. I mentioned in the last "chapter" I wasn't going to have as much time for writing because he was sick. Well, he passed away on May 3rd, the day after I posted that. My Dad was the greatest man I'll ever know. He was an amateur writer himself, mostly poems, though he hadn't written in years. He'd read some of what I posted here last summer, and he told me "I was very proud. You're better than i ever was". So, this chapter is for you Dad. I love you.**

 **Chapter 7 Femme's Fatale**

"This is MADNESS," announced Giles, as Buffy and Kimberly stood before him, Buffy wearing her old Hemry High cheerleading outfit, and Kimberly in a leotard. Faith sat on one of the library tables nearby, clearly amused.

"You don't like the color?" Buffy asked, feigning innocence. She knew full well what the problem was. Kim nudged her but giggled.

"What? I don't like..." Giles stammered, pinching the bridge of his nose. It was much too early in the day to be developing a headache, but, since meeting these three girls, headaches were becoming a daily occurrence for Giles. He briefly wondered if any other Watchers had had this much trouble with their Slayers, then realized, no, no Watcher had had to look after THREE of them before! "Do you three ignore everything I say? As a rule?"

"Just the boring bits," Kim muttered under her breath, then smiled sweetly when Giles glared at her.

"No," said Buffy exasperatedly. "I believe that's YOUR gig. We TOLD you I was trying out for cheerleading and Kim was trying out for the gymnastics team."

Giles looked at Faith, shooing her off the table. "Can't YOU talk some sense into them?" he asked. Sometimes, of the three, Faith seemed the most dedicated to the slaying.

Faith rolled her eyes, but obeyed and slid off the table top and into a chair. "Well, i think they're making PERFECT sense," she answered.

Giles sighed. "You girls have a sacred birthright," he said. " You have been chosen to slay vampires, and fight evil. NOT to prance about and wave pom pom's at people, or swing around on a high bar! And as you Watcher I forbid it." Giles winced inwardly. He knew that forbid was a mistake the moment the word left his mouth.

Faith raised an eyebrow and smirked at Giles. "GOOD idea there, G," she scoffed, ignoring the death glare he gave her.

Buffy cocked a hip and gave Giles a Look. "And you plan on stopping us HOW exactly?" she challenged.

Giles looked stunned but recovered quickly. "By appealing to your common sense, if such a creature exists," he said exasperatedly.

"Look, Giles," Kim pleaded. "We'll still have time to fight the forces of evil, ok? But we also want to have as normal a life as we can in the meantime!"

"God!" said Buffy, exasperated. "You didn't give Faith this much grief when she joined the karate club Trini told her about!"

"That-that's because the training she'll get in that club can-can help her out when fighting vampires," Giles explained.

Faith frowned. "That's NOT why I joined," she told him. "I mean, it's true but that's not the reason." She took a breath. She was only a couple of minutes older than Buffy, and she was kind of the wild one of the three of them, but, Faith had long ago taken on the big sister role with Buffy and Kim, doing what she could to protect and support them. In some ways, she had a wisdom beyond her years thanks to this, and often knew what her sisters needed.

"Look, Giles," she said. "I understand from the stuff Merrick said, that traditionally Slayers give up everything else and devote themselves to slaying. But, I also understand that Slayers tend to be lucky to live more than three years after being called. Giles, we're SIXTEEN. We NEED other things in our lives. We need time to decompress, to spend with our friends, to do something, I dunno, FUN? Besides, there's THREE of us. I think between the three of us we can do both our own thing AND deal with the undead."

Giles sighed. "Three against one," he muttered. "Very well, as long as it doesn't interfere with your duties."

Buffy and Kim beamed at Faith. "Thanks Giles," they said in unison, then decided to beat a hasty retreat before he changed his mind. Kim, ran up to him and gave him a quick hug and kiss on the cheek, making him squirm a little before following Buffy out of the library. Faith gave him a sympathetic smile then followed her sisters, only to be accosted by her own Kim hug when she got outside.

"Thanks Faith," she said.

"Really," added Buffy. "I really didn't think he was gonna give in."

Faith grinned and put an arm around each of their shoulders. "Hey," she said. "We Summers girls stick together! I gotta watch out for my little sisters."

Buffy elbowed her. "You're only a few minutes older!" she complained, making Kim chuckle at their old argument.

"Oh, I didn't mean age wise," said Faith with a smirk. "I meant height wise. You're both small." she held her thumb and forefinger a little less than an inch apart. "Tiny even."

"HEY!" said Kim, elbowing her in the stomach. She was slightly shorter than Buffy, who was a couple of inches shorter than Faith, and a little sensitive about her height.

Faith just laughed and hugged both of her sisters closer to her. Buffy and Kim joined her in laughing. One thing was for sure...

Summers girls DID stick together.

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A short time later, Faith sat in her biology class, listening to the lecture from Dr. Gregory, a kindly older man with grey hair and glasses.

"Their ancestors were here long before we were," Dr Gregory was saying as he paced in front of the class. "their progeny will be here long after we're gone. The simple and ubiquitous ant. If you did the homework, you'll know the

two ways that ants communicate." He looks around the room, his eyes seeming to make a bee line for Faith."Ms. Summers?"

Faith panicked. No, she HADN'T done the homework. "Er, the way ants communicate?" she asked, stalling as she looked over to Trini and Xander, whom she shared the class with.

"Yes,' said Dr. Gregory, turning away and pinching the bridge of his nose in a very Giles like manner.

"With other ants?" asked Faith.

"No, with lemons," said Dr. Gregory. "It's all right there in the reading. Ants communicate in two ways..."

Faith looked over to see Trini rubbing her hand down Xanders arm. "Touch!" she exclaimed, a little too loud. Then, Trini pantomimed smelling Xander, which seemed to amuse the rest of the class. "And...b.o.?"

Everybody in class except Faith Trini and Xander laughed. Dr. Gregory turned and looked at Faith, never glancing at Trini.

"Touch and SMELL, Miss Summers," he said. "Is there anything else Miss Kwan would like to share with you?"

Trini was clearly about to protest when the bell rang and everybody started to grab their things and shuffle out.

"Chapters six through eight by Wednesday, people," Dr. Gregory called out. He turned to Faith. "Miss Summers, could i see you a moment?"

Faith gave Trini and Xander a "save me" look as they left the room, then stood there, nervously as Dr. Gregory started shelving some books. "I gather you had a few problems at your last school," he said.

"Well, one or two," answered Faith, evasively. "What teenager doesn't..."

"Cut school?" finished Dr. Gregory for her. "Get into fights? Burn down the gym?" He almost smiled when Faith gaped at him. "Principal Flutie showed he all three of yoru records. I think he may be considering making them required reading."

Faith gave a nervous laugh. "Well, that fire," she began. "there were major extenuating circumstances."

"I can't wait to see what you do here," said Dr. Gregory, interrupting her. "I'm sure it's going to be great."

"You mean great in a BAD way?" asked Faith, confused.

Dr. Gregory removed his glasses and started cleaning them, another very Giles like maneuver. "You've got a first rate mind," he said. " You

can think on your feet - imagine what you could accomplish if you did . . . ?"

Faith gave a weak smile. "The homework thing?" she finished for him.

"The homework thing," agreed Dr. Gregory. "Faith, I understand you probably have a good excuse for not doing it. Amazingly enough, I don't care. I know you can excel in this class and so I expect no less. Is that clear?"

"Crystal," answered Faith. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," he said, putting his glasses back on. "Be smart." he gave her a kind smile. "And please don't listen to the Principal's or anyone else's negative opinions about you. Let's make 'em eat that permanent record, what do you say?"

Faith smiled back at him. "I say "Thank you"," she said. "And I will,"

"Good," said Dr. Gregory, dismissing her. "Chapters six through eight."

Faith continued smiling as she left the room. She was amazed. A teacher she actually LIKED!

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Later, Kim, Buffy and Faith entered the gym with Willow, Xander and Billy for the cheerleader tryouts. Luckily, gymnastics tryouts was after cheerleader tryouts, so, the girls could be there to support each other. Buffy was telling the gang about her adventures with Giles this morning.

"So, Giles didn't approve?" Willow asked sympathetically.

"He totally lost his water," answered Buffy rolling her eyes. "We haven't even SEEN a vampire in a week. I'd say he should get a girlfriend, if he wasn't so old."

Faith gave her a look. ""Lost his water?" she asked. "What does that even mean?

Kim shook her head at Faith's comment, then looked over to see Xander and Bill, looking around, taking in every sight.

"People scoff at school spirit," said Xander. "but when you see young women giving their all like this..." He was momentarily distracted by a girl named Amber doing the splits. "oooh, stretchy! Er, where was I?"

"You were pretending seeing scantily clad women in revealing postures was a spiritual experience," teased Buffy, enjoying his discomfort.

"Not sure pretending is the right word, Kim," said Faith. While not as mesmerized as the boys, Faith was definitely admiring the...flexibility.

"See," said Xander. "Faith gets it!"

"THERE'S a sterling endorsement," said Kim, giving Faith a playful shove.

"Keep it up, Hobbit," grumbled Faith, her eyes bright with amusement.

Xander turned to Kim. "By the way," he said as he pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Kim. "I got this for you. Sort of a good luck thing for YOUR tryouts later."

"What is this?" asked Kim, taking it. It was an ID bracelet.

"What is that?" asked Willow, her nostrils flaring a little.

Kim looked at the bracelet. "That's so sweet," she said, beaming, then read the inscription. ""Yours always'?"

"That was on there when I got it," said Xander a little too quickly. "Really, they all said that!"

"Of COURSE it was," said Billy, exchanging eyerolls with Faith.

Kim looked and saw Trinin walk into the gym. "Excuse me, guys," she said, walking over to join her. "Hey," she said.

"Hi Kim," returned Trini, smiling.

"I'm surprised to see you," said Kim. "I didn't think you cared about cheerleading."

Trini blushed a little. "I'm just here to support Buffy and Cordelia,' she said, looking over to where Cordelia was limbering up. Kim couldn't help but notice the smile and wave the two exchanged.

"What's up with you two?" asked Kim, thinking about the night of the Harvest, when she'd wondered if the two girls were flirting.

"We're friends," said Trini defensively. "I'm supporting Buffy too. I don't see you asking what's up with US."

"That's because you and Buffy haven't been making moon eyes at each other," said Kim, rolling her eyes. She had to admit, more of the moon eyes had been Trini's, but, Cordelia had definitely returned them once or twice.

Trini looked around, making sure no one else was listening. "Ok,' she said. "Look, nobody else knows this, not even Billy, Willow and Xander, but, yeah, I DO like girls as well as boys, and I MAY have had a tiny crush on Cordelia since we were seven. But, it doesn't matter. My parents are very traditional, so, I couldn't have a relationship with a girl even of Cordelia WERE interested."

Kim nodded and squeezed her felt good to her that Rini had confided in her. But then, she probably figured Kim of all people would understand, considering that Faith was bi and SO out of the closet it wasn't even funny. "I THINK she might be at least a LITTLE interested," she said, consoling her friend. "SHE looks at YOU too."

Trini shook her head. "She may be feeling a little something because I saved her from Jesse, then we worked together to dust him," said Trini, choking up a little at the memory of having to dust one of her close friends. "But that's all it is. Trust me, Kim. My gaydar is pretty good, and Cordelia Chase is the straightest girl I know."

Kim nodded as they walked over to join the others. "Maybe she'll surprise us," she said hopefully. Cordelia walked over at the same time.

"God," said Cordelia, watching Amber stand on one leg and hold the other straight in the air. "Who does she think she is, a Laker Girl?"

"I hear she turned them down," said Willow. Then they all turned to see another girl walk up to them. The girl was blonde, and stunning, walking with total confidence, wearing an outdated Sunnydale Razorbacks cheerleading outfit. Everybody's jaws except for Kim and Buffy's, dropped as the girl walked up to them, Xander, Billy and Faith obviously attracted to the girl, Willow and Cordelia looking surprised, and Trini, well, a combination of both.

"Hi guys," said the girl, smiling, obviously pleased at the attention she was getting.

"AMY?" exclaimed Willow."My God, you look GREAT. You've lost a lot of weight!"

"Had to," said Amy, a bit ruefully. "I really wanna make the team."

"Do you know Buffy, Kim and Faith?" asked Willow, indicating the Slayers. "Guys, this is Amy Madison. Amy, this is Buffy, Kimberly, and Faith Summers."

"Hi," said Amy smiling. "Nice to meet you." She looked at Buffy. "You're trying out too? That's great. Who's your coach?"

Buffy smiled, warming up to Amy immediately. "Er, I don't have one," she admitted.

"They have cheerleading coaches?" asked Faith.

"Oh yeah," said Amy. She indicated Amber."She trained with Benson...He's the best teacher money can buy. Except for my mom.I train with my Mom three hours in the morning, three at night."

"God," said Buffy. "That much quality time with my mother would probably lead to some quality matricide!"

Kim elbowed her. "She's not THAT bad!" she scolded.

"That's because she likes you best," said Faith, earning herself a glare from Kim.

"Ok," called out Joy, the captain. "Let's start with...Amy Madison. If you're not trying out, please leave the gym floor." Buffy and the others went to the side as Amy began her tryout.

Kim noticed that Trini and the others who knew Amy were totally stunned. Amy was amazing! Every move was perfect!

"In all the years I've known her," said Billy, running his fingers through his hair. "Amy has never displayed this level of athletic skill!"

"She's good too!" agreed Xander.

"Steroids," said Cordelia."It's gotta be steroids!"

Kim agreed, well, with Billy and Xander. "That girl is on fire!" she and Buffy said simultaneously.

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After both Buffy's and Kim's tryouts, the girls walked into her house after to find crates strewn about everywhere, and Joyce and Dawn in the kitchen, Dawn unloading an opened crate, Joyce trying to open another with a crowbar.

"Hi guys," Kim said, walking up to them.

"Hi," said Dawn.

"Hi sweeties," said Joyce, smiling but not looking up. "How was school?"

"A reverent joy," snarked Buffy ,exchanging a grin with Dawn. "What's all this?"

"A violation of child labor laws," said Dawn with a smirk.

"It's for the tribal art display," said Joyce, giving Dawn a smack on her butt, making her eep. "You're getting to be as much of a smart alec as your sister!"

Faith grinned at Dawn. "I've trained her well."

"Oh cool," said Buffy, checking out a statue Dawn had just unloaded, then grabbing a donut and sitting down as Faith started rooting in the refrigerator.

The girls noticed their mother had not actually looked at Buffy,Faith or Kim yet, so Dawn spoke up. "Buffy, Kim, you guys had tryouts today, didn't you?" she said.

Both girls smiled in thanks and said "Yep."

"Great!" Joyce said, a touch absently. "How'd it go?"

"There was some pretty stiff competition," said Buffy. "I did better than some of the girls, not so great as others."

"Kim was great," said Faith, proud of her sister. They were all SURE Kim had made the team.

Joyce nodded as she continued struggling with the crate. "Well, I'm sure you did great," she said. "Keep on plugging. You just have to get back on the horse."

Buffy and Kim exchanged a look. "Mom?" spoke up Buffy.

Joyce finally turned to look at hem. "Yeah?" she asked.

"What were we trying out for?" asked Kim.

Joyce paused. Both stumped and embarrassed. "Uhm, some activity? I'm sorry Sweeties. I honestly have no idea."

Buffy smiled. "It's ok, mom," she said. "Your platitudes are good for all occasions."

"I'm just distracted here," said Joyce. "I've got inventory to do. This is the galleries first major show." She finally gave up on that crate and turned to another. "You know, it might NOT physically kill any you to give me a hand!"

Once Joyce's back was turned, Faith casually flipped the lid off of the crate with one hand.

"It was cheerleading tryouts for Buffy and gymnastics for Kim, Mom," Dawn said helpfully.

"And I joined the karate club yesterday,' added Faith

"Oh GOOD," said Joyce. "I'm glad you two are taking that up again. And karate is great for self discipline, Faith. Keep you girls out of trouble."

All three bristled a little. "We're not IN trouble, Mom,"she said.

"Not yet," said Joyce, having no idea that her words were hurting them. " I just meant, you stopped cheerleading and gymnastics right before the trouble started, so, good you're getting back into it." She pulled a statue of a man halfway out of a crate, then shoved it back in. "Oh dear."

"What is it?" asked all four together.

"Fertility statue," said Joyce. "Something you four do NOT need to see!"

Buffy chuckled heading for the fridge, and looking inside. "You know," she said. "This girl Amy's mother works with her like three hours a day." She closed the fridge. "Sounds like she's really into it."

"Sounds like Amy's mother doesn't have a lot to do," said Joyce absently, picking up a few pieces and exiting the room.

The girls exchanged a look, then once she was gone went straight for the crate and looked at the statue inside, the three older girls accidentally blocking Dawn's view. All three of their eyes went wide.

"Jeepers," exclaimed Kim.

"What?" asked Dawn, trying to push her way in front."I can't see!"

"And you NEVER will, Squirt," said Faith, covering Dawn's eyes with one hand.

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A/N: As you can see, I am again combining the events of The Witch and Teachers Pet, with my own twist, of course. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Please, let me know what you thought.

.


	10. Chapter 8 Femme's Fatale Pt 2

A/N: I know, it's been a long time since I updated this one. I'm sorry about that. If you need to go back and re-read to remember where we were, that's fine. I'll wait. Wow! Back already? You're QUICK. LOL

A/N2: This "episode" was originally going to cover both Witch and Teachers Pet, but, given the title of the "episode" "Femme's Fatale" I decided to include a certain other episode as well. I think you'll get whet I am doing when you read it. Now, on with the show.

 _ **Previously:**_

 _"No," said Buffy exasperatedly. "I believe that's YOUR gig. We TOLD you I was trying out for cheerleading and Kim was trying out for the gymnastics team."_

 _The homework thing," agreed Dr. Gregory. "Faith, I understand you probably have a good excuse for not doing it. Amazingly enough, I don't care. I know you can exce lin this class and so I expect no less. Is that clear?"_

 _"Crystal," answered Faith. "I'm sorry."_

 _"Don't be sorry," he said, putting his glasses back on. "Be smart." he gave her a kind smile. "And please don't listen to the Principal's or anyone elses negative opinions about you. Let's make 'em eat that permanent record, what do you say?"_

 _Faith smiled back at him. "I say "Thank you"," she said. "And I will,"_

 _"Good," said Dr. Gregory, dismissing her. "Chapters six through eight."_

 _Faith continued smiling as she left the room. She was amazed. A teacher she actually LIKED!_

 _"Ok," called out Joy, the captain. "Let's start with...Amy Madison. If you're not trying out, please leave the gym floor." Buffy and the others went to the side as Amy began her tryout._

 _Kim noticed that Trini and the others who knew Amy were totally stunned. Amy was amazing! Every move was perfect!_

 _"In al lthe years I've known her," said Billy, running his fingers through his hair. "Amy has never displayed this level of athletic skill!"_

 _"She's good too!" agreed Xander._

 _"Steroids," said Cordelia."It's gotta be steroids!"_

 _Kim agreed, well, with Billy and Xander. "That girl is on fire!" she and Buffy said simultaneously._

 _"It was cheerleading tryouts for Buffy and gymnastics for Kim, Mom," Dawn said helpfully._

 _"And I joined the karate club yesterday,' added Faith_

 _"Oh GOOD," said Joyce. "I'm glad you two are taking that up again. And karate is great for self discipline, Faith. Keep you girls out of trouble."_

 **Chapter 8 Femme's Fatale, Pt 2**

 **The Sunken Church, the same time as last chapter ended.**

The Master paced the confines of his prison, exasperatedly. He turned to Darla, who was standing there patiently after his summons/ "Zachary didn't return from the hunt last night," he informed her.

Darla nodded. "The Slayers," she said. A spell performed from one of the Masters more magically gifted minions had confirmed that the three girls from the night of the Harvest did indeed all three have Slayer energy coursing through them. "Or Santana," she added, thinking of the rogue vampire.

"Zachary was strong," the Master continued. "And careful. and still, they took him, as they have taken so many of my children." He paused. "It begins to wear thin."

"Angelus, Spike and Drusilla are due to arrive soon," Darla told him. "We will take care of them." It would be good to see them again. She got exasperated with Spike, well, constantly, and Dru's mad ramblings could drive her to distraction, but, the four of them had caused a lot of mayhem together and she was sure they could deal with the three Slayers and Santana.

The Master considered this. "I have the utmost confidence in you all, otherwise I would not have told you to send for them," he said. "But, after what they did to my forces the night of the Harvest, and since then, I cannot afford to wait." Three other vampires stepped out of the shadows. "Especially when The Three are already here!"

Darla looked at the three vampires intrigued. She'd SO been looking forward to dealing with this alongside the rest of the Whirlwind, but, sending the three after them could get...interesting. "At least let me go with them?" she pleaded.

The Master considered this. "Very well," he said. "Far be it from me to deny my favorite her fun."

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 **The Bronze, Later that evening**

Faith chuckled as Kim wrinkled her nose as Willow stomped on a cockroach. After Buffy and Kim's tryouts earlier, the gang had gone to the Bronze to unwind, only for the Summers girls to discover it was the annual "Fumigation Party", at which, apparently, anybody who turned in a cockroach got a free drink.

"That is so gross!" said Kim as Willow examined the bottom of her shoe.

"The fumigation party is a time honored tradition," said Xander. "The night right before the Bronze shuts down for a few days to nuke the cockroaches."

"And nobody else worries that we hang out at a place that has to do that?" asked Buffy, making both of her sisters laugh quietly.

Cordelia scoffed. "Considering what you three do every night," she said. "A few cockroaches shouldn't bother you." Faith smiled as Trini laughed and the two leaned against each other. God, did either of these two think they were fooling ANYBODY?

The band changed songs, and Kim immediately perked up. "Oooh, i LOVE this song!" she exclaimed. She grabbed Xanders hand. "C'mon! Let's go dance!" she said. Xander barely had time to agree before Kim had dragged him out on the laughed as Trini, Cordelia, Willow and Billy followed them, leaving Buffy and Faith at the table alone.

"Looks like everybody is pairing up," quipped Faith watching them. It was a fast song, and only Kim and Xander were really dancing "together", but they LOOKED like three couples out there.

Buffy nodded. "Speaking of pairings," she said, coyly. "How's Santana?"

Faith blushed, ever so slightly. ""I haven't seen her in a couple of days," she said. "And i don't know if you would call us a pair."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Please," she said. "With the way you two look at each other? I've know you for 16 years, Faith. I KNOW that look!"

Faith chuckled. "Well..." she said. "I WAS thinking of asking her out."

"Go for it," prodded Buffy. "Hey, at least two out of three of the Summers Sisters should get to have some smoochies."

Faith put her hand on Buffy's shoulder. "No guys for Buffy?" she asked.

Buffy shrugged. "I just haven't met anybody who interests me much," she admitted. "Sure, I've met some cuties, but, no sparkage."

Faith was about to reply when they both heard her name being called. They both turned to see a good looking boy, tall with long brown hair, tied back into a ponytail, walking towards them smiling.

"Oh, hey Tommy," said Faith, with a smile. She turned to Buffy. "Buff, this is Tommy Oliver. He's the guy I told you about. The guy who leads our karate club? Tommy, this is my sister, Buffy."

"Hi, Buffy," said Tommy turning to her. "Faith has told me a lot about you and...Kim?" His words trailed off as he and Buffy got a good look at each other.

"Hi," said Buffy, breathlessly. "Nice to meet me."

Faith hid her chuckle behind a cough as the two continued to look at each other with what her mother would call "Davy Jones eyes". Faith could practically SEE the stars in both of their eyes.

"Sparkage," Faith singsonged under her breath, making Buffy elbow her.

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"He was asking you to dance!" Faith told Buffy, exasperatedly as the two walked home from the Bronze. Trini and Cordelia had left before them, and Kim had stayed with Willow, Xander and Billy.

"Well, he could be less subtle," whined Buffy.

Faith snorted. "He said "I love this song, it's great to dance to". You really ARE out of practice.

Buffy rolled her eyes at Faith's teasing. "You're such an ass," she said. She paused and looked at Faith, who nodded at her. They were being followed.

The two stopped. "It's late, we're tired, and we don't want to play games," announced Buffy. "Show yourselves."

"Here I am," came a voice from behind them. They both turned to see the blonde vampire who had taken Jesse, then fought Santana the night of the Harvest, Darla, standing there.

Both girls pulled out stakes. "Oh, I was SO hoping to see you again!" growled Faith. As Billy and Jesse had been the first friends she had made when her family had arrived in Sunnydale, Faith was still smarting over Jesse's death.

Darla smirked. "You didn't really think I'd come alone, did you?" she asked. Suddenly, three more vampires appeared and grabbed both girls, dragging them down an alley and slamming them against a fence. They were all larger than normal vampires, one huge, another with long, straggly hair, and the third with a bit scar where his right eye should be. The biggest one was holding Buffy against the fence, the other two holding Faith.

"I was hoping to catch your little sister too," said Darla with a sneer. "But, you two will do for now."

Buffy and Faith exchanged a look. "Ok, ok," said Buffy, a bit breathlessly. "We really don't want to fight all four of you..." She snapped out her left leg, kicking Darla in the jaw and sending her backwards.

"Unless we HAVE to!" finished Faith, turning to face the one eyes one and headbutting him on his blind side, making him lose his grip. She yanked her arm free and punched the other one in the jaw, freeing herself. She then turned to see Buffy had managed to bring her leg up between the big guys legs, catching him a glancing blow in the vitals. It wasn't a debilitating blow, but, well, it was the vitals, so, both Slayers found themselves free.

The girls tried to press their attack, but, it WAS four on two, and Faith was not a full Slayer like her sister, so, they found themselves quickly overwhelmed. As Buffy exchanged blows with Darla, the big guy and the long haired ones managed to pin Faith's arms behind her. One eye bared his fangs and moved towards a struggling Faith's neck.

Suddenly, a hand reached out and grabbed One Eye's shoulder, spinning him around. "Good dogs don't bite!" growled Santana as she punched him in the face, knocking him back. Both of the other vampires looked towards her, as did a smiling Faith. Santana took advantage of their momentary distraction to land a more solid kick in the big guys vitals, making him double over. "Need some help?" she asked Faith.

"Oh," Faith said, nonchalantly, as she grabbed hold of the other vamp's arms and executed a judo throw. "all we can get!" Santana chuckled as she and Faith stood side by side.

Buffy blocked a right hook from Darla, then threw a kick, which Darla ducked under as Faith and Santana started fighting the other two vampires. As far as they could tell, the fourth was still groaning. The three girls were actually doing fairly well, until the big guy stood and ripped a piece of iron bar off a nearby window. She slashed the jagged end at Santana, slashing her across the ribs. The vampire Santana was fighting took full advantage and punched her injured side, sending Santana to one knee.

An angry Faith snapped a kick into that vampires jaw, and judo flipped her own opponant to the ground. Meanwhile, Buffy managed to temporarily fight off Darla, and yanked Santana to her feet. "Run!" she ordered. Faith wasted no time in taking Santana's arm and the three girls ran off down the street, the four vampires in pursuit.

The girls managed to make it to the Summers house, Buffy managing to get the door open as Faith pushed Santana in front of her. "Come on!" she ordered. "Get in there!" Santana entered, followed by Faith, then finally Buffy, who barely managed to slam the door in Darla's face. The four vampires growled and pounded on the door.

"It's ok," said Santana. "Vampires can't come in unless you invite them."

"Yeah, we've HEARD that," said Faith, breathlessly.

"We've just never put it to he test," finished Buffy.

Santana chuckled and groaned. Faith noticed her wound. "Oh, God," she said, taking Santana's arm. "We need to take care of that." She led Santana into the kitchen. Buffy decided to both give them some privacy, and to make sure Kim and their mother and Dawn got home safely with four vampires outside.

"Take off your jacket and your shirt," ordered Faith, reaching under the kitchen sink to grab the first aid kit that was under there. She turned back and her breath caught as Santana stood there holding her shirt to cover her obviously bare breasts. Santana smirked at her as she regained her composure and took out a disinfectant wipe and proceeded to wipe down the cut, getting a perfect view of Santana's side boob. "Sorry," she said as Santana inhaled from the sting.

"It's ok," said Santana, softly.

"We are so lucky you came along when you did," said Faith smearing some neosporin on the cut, noting how Santana's skin was a little cold, apparently from the night air. "HOW did you come along when you did, by the way?" she asked.

"I was out for a walk," answered Santana, simply. "I live nearby."

Faith raised an eyebrow as she started bandaging the wound. "so, yo uweren't following us, then?" she asked.

Santana smirked at her. "Now why would I do that?" she asked.

"You tell me," said Faith as she finished bandaging. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but, if you ARE following us, I'd like to know why. There. All finished."

"Maybe, I was following you," said Santana. "Maybe I like you." Then, with an evil grin, she lifted the shirt and put it back on, giving Faith a brief, though perfect view of "the girls".

"Maybe," said Faith, her voice an octave higher than normal as Santana put her jacket back on. She cleared her throat and continued. "Maybe I like you too."

The two girls smiled at each other and moved closer as they heard Buffy open the front door.

"Buffy, what the heck?" they heard Joyce's voice. Faith went into the living room, Santana a few steps behind her, to see Joyce and Dawn in the living room and Buffy pulling Kim inside.

"Sorry," said Buffy, slamming the door. "I jsut feel better with you all safe and sound 's just a lot of weird people outside at night." She looked out the window. Kim looked at Faith, saw Santana behind her, and nodded, clearly catching on that something had happened.

"And a few in here," muttered Dawn under her breath. She looked up and saw Santana. "Who's that?" she asked.

"Hi," said Santana, looking a little uncomfortable.

"Hiiiiiiiiii," said Joyce looking confused.

"Mom, Dawn," said Faith a bit hurriedly. "This is our friend, Santana."

"Nice to meet you," said Santana.

"You too," said Joyce, looking to her daughters for more explanation.

"Er, Santana is tutoring Faith in..." started Buffy.

"History," finished Santana with an amused look on her face.

"Er, yeah," said Faith. "You know I've been having a little trouble there."

Joyce nodded. "It's a little late for tutoring," said Joyce. She turned to Dawn. "It's also a little late for you to be up. That movie went longer than I thought it would. Now, up to bed!"

"Awwwwwwww," complained Dawn, though she started right up the stairs.

"I'm going to bed too," said Joyce. "I'm exhausted." She looked back and forth between her daughters and Santana. "Girls?" she said.

"Er, Mom," said Faith, not wanting Santana to go outside, not sure if the coast was really clear or not. "Santana's parents are away, and like Buffy said, there can be weird people outside at night. Wouldn't it be safer for her to stay here?"

Joyce considered that. "Ok," she said. "But I want all four of you in bed, lights out, in ten minutes." She gave them a look that said they would all FOUR be in trouble if they disobeyed.

"Of course, Mom," said Kim, kissing Joyce on the cheek. "Night, Mom. Love you."

"Love you guys," said Joyce, heading up to bed.

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"So," said Faith as the four girls entered the Summers girls bedroom. "You take the single bed, The three of us can squeeze into the big bed." She reached into the closet and took out two over sized tee shirts, tossing one to Santana. Buffy gave Kim a quick rundown of what happened as all four girls changed for bed. Even though they were all girls, Santana made a point of keeping her back to them.

"So, we're the Slayers," Kim said to Santana. "But, what's your story? Why do YOU do this?"

Santana shrugged. "Call it a vengeance gig," she said.

"You lost somebody to vampires?" asked Buffy, sympathetically.

"I lost the world to vampires," answered Santana, darkly.

"I'm sorry," said Faith, turning and walking over to her.

"It was...awhile ago," answered Santana, giving her a smile. "Look, we better get some sleep. You three have school tomorrow."

"Ok," said Faith as Buffy and Kim climbed into bed. "Night." She leaned in and impulsively brushed her lips against Santana's, then went to join her sisters.

"Night," whispered Santana, climbing into bed.

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 _ **Flashback: San Francisco, California. Late 1890.**_

 _Spike loved the colonies. Well, of course, America was it's own country now, but, his mother had always referred to it as "the colonies". Anyway, despite being it's own official country for over a hundred years, America still had a wildness to it Spike loved. He WAS confused though. For some reason, after seeing that God awful ballet in Russia, Dru had insisted they come to America. Darla and Angelus had begged off, but, Spike could rarely deny Dru anything, so he had come with her._

 _"Why did you insist on coming here, anyway, Pet?" he asked her._

 _Dru, for her part, was looking around, in that far away look she often got. "I was called here, my Spike," she told him. "She is here."_

 _"Who the bloody Hell is here?" asked Spike._

 _"Our girl," answered Dru. "Spike, our family is not yet complete, we have each other, and Daddy, and Grandmummy, but we don't have HER yet."_

 _Spike smirked a bit at "Grandmummy". It always drove Darla crazy when Dru called her that. Then, it dawned on him what she meant. Dru always considered the four of them a family._

 _"You want a child," Spike said, a touch exasperated. Dru had sired him, but, he had always been more her lover than her child._

 _"Our own little poppet," said Dru, dreamily. She suddenly took off in a certain direction._

 _"Dru!" called Spike, following her. He caught up to her, finding her staring at a young Mexican girl who couldn't be more than 17._

 _"That's her," said Dru, decisively. "That's our poppet! Get her for me, Spike. I want YOU to turn her."_

 _Spike started to argue, but, again, he seldom denied Dru anything. He took a good long look at the girl. A group of white men were talking to her, one getting a little closer than was proper. The spitfire elbowed him in the stomach, then flipped him to the ground and unloaded a string of expletives in Spanish that made the man's compatriots whoop and laugh._

 _Spike looked at the girl again. He shrugged. At least Dru had chosen well. This girl might just fit in. He definitely saw the potential in her._

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A/N3: If anybody didn't get the "Davy Jones" eyes bit, it's from the 1960's sitcom The Monkees. One of the Monkees, Davy Jones, was especially girl crazy, and very popular with them. In several episodes, when Davy met a new girl, and they fell for each other, both would get stars in their eyes and you would hear music and birds chirping. My wife and I have always called the look two people who are instantly attracted to each other get "Davy Jones eyes". If you DID get it, never mind. LOL.

Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Please R and R.


	11. ATTENTION READERS

Dear Readers,

My apologies for how long it has been between updates for any of my stories. Things got a little crazier around here in general and THEN I wound up in the hospital with a really bad infection that nearly cost me at least part of my left foot. I just got out of the hospital after a week and two surgeries and am still looking at a month or two recovery time at least. Part of me is hoping that during the recovery, I'll at least have more time to write, but, frankly, in this moment, I just don't know if I have any inspiration, thanks to the stress, and I am unsure how long I can sit at my computer at a time. So, as I have said so many times before, my stories are not abandoned, or on an official hiatus, I just want everybody to know that, I have no idea when I will post in any of them. I know some of you are really enjoying some of them, and so am I, so, I'm sorry for this. As said, I'll try to keep some writing done, especially since writing has been a stress relief for me in the past.

Thanks in advance for your understanding,

Bill aka DaBillmann


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